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Week 11

This document discusses atomic transitions and how atoms can absorb and emit radiation through electron transitions between energy levels. It describes this using time-dependent perturbation theory and the semi-classical approximation. Transition probabilities and rates of spontaneous emission are proportional to the matrix element between initial and final states, which is determined by integrating over position space wavefunctions.

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Eric Parker
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26 views5 pages

Week 11

This document discusses atomic transitions and how atoms can absorb and emit radiation through electron transitions between energy levels. It describes this using time-dependent perturbation theory and the semi-classical approximation. Transition probabilities and rates of spontaneous emission are proportional to the matrix element between initial and final states, which is determined by integrating over position space wavefunctions.

Uploaded by

Eric Parker
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

5.

3 Atomic transitions
Atoms can absorb and emit radiation by
electrons undergoing transitions between
energy levels
This can be understood in terms of timedependent perturbation theory, where the basic
system is the atom and the perturbation is due
to the electromagnetic field of the radiation
We will use the theory of the previous section,
even though there is no reference to the
quantisation of radiation, ie photons
This semi-classical approximation is OK for
absorption and stimulated emission for
spontaneous emission we need a proper
quantisation of the electromagnetic fields

The main effect is from the electric field of the


radiation:

= 0 cos(k . r t )
time and space varying electric field

0 electric field amplitude (a vector)


k wavevector of the radiation

angular frequency of the radiation, = c k


We assume that the atom is at r = 0 . The atom
is much smaller than the wavelength of the
radiation, so k . r is very small. If the electric
field 0 is in the z direction, the perturbation
becomes

H (r , t ) = e 0 z cos t

As in section 5.2, transitions will occur only if


matches the difference between atomic
energy levels
The transition probability is

W=

H f i
2

g ( f i )

where

H f i = e 0 f (r ) z i (r ) d 3r

We find that the rate of spontaneous emission is


2
also proportional to H f i

For the hydrogen atom, the states i (r ) and


f (r ) can be written as

i (r ) = Rn (r ) Y m ( , )
i

f (r ) = Rn

(r ) Y f m f ( , )

and in spherical polars z = r cos .

H f i becomes

H f i = e 0 dr r 3 Rnf f (r ) Rni i (r )
0

sin

co
s

Y
f m f ( , ) Y i mi ( , )

and this determines the strength of spectral


lines

In particular, the and integrals are zero for


many combinations of the and m quantum
numbers. This gives rise to selection rules
that determine which lines are observed in
atomic spectra.
For H f i to be non-zero we require f = i 1

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