This award will support collaborative research in theoretical physics between Dr. Ronald Bieniek, University of Missouri at Rolla, and two British scientists: Dr. Keith Burnett, Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford University and Dr. Mark Child, Theoretical Chemistry Department, Oxford University. The proposed study is aimed at developing accurate semiclassical models and methods of describing and analyzing collisional and half-collisional redistribution of polarized radiation. When polarized light is absorbed during a close atomic/molec- ular full- or half-collision, the fragments will flouresce light after they separate. The degree of polarization remaining in the light, as a function of laser detuning, contains much information about intermolecular potentials and the fundamental transition from molecular to atomic domains. The analysis of experimental information about properties is greatly facilitated if accurate and tractable theoretical tools are available with which investigators can visualize the phenomena and describe the underlying physics. Semiclassi- cal techniques, which treat some aspects in a classical way and others in a quantum mechanical manner, can offer considerable insight. However, current semiclassical methods for redistribution are, in many ways, unsatisfactory. This project is designed to improve this situation by enhancing the popular locking/decoupling model, and developing new techniques to deal with phase interference effects between excitation events, Coriolis braking of orbital rotation, and the vagaries of the boundary between the atomic and the molecular coupling of angular momenta. The British collabora- tors involved are at the forefront of redistribution research and the US investigator Dr. Bieniek will benefit greatly from the opportunity to carry out this long term research visit.
