Article
Manipulating Atomic Fragmentation Processes by Controlling the Projectile Coherence
Physical Review Letters
Abstract
We have measured the scattering angle dependence of cross sections for ionization in p+H2 collisions for a fixed projectile energy loss. Depending on the projectile coherence, interference due to indistinguishable diffraction of the projectile from the two atomic centers was either present or absent in the data. This shows that, due to the fundamentals of quantum mechanics, the preparation of the beam must be included in theoretical calculations. The results have far-reaching implications on formal atomic scattering theory because this critical aspect has been overlooked for several decades.
Department(s)
Physics
Keywords and Phrases
- Atomic centers,
- Atomic scattering,
- Cross section,
- Fragmentation process,
- Projectile energy,
- Scattering angles,
- Theoretical calculations,
- Atoms,
- Energy dissipation,
- Projectiles,
- Quantum theory,
- Coherent scattering
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2011 American Physical Society (APS), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
4-1-2011
Publication Date
01 Apr 2011
Disciplines
Citation Information
Kisra N. Egodapitiya, Sachin D. Sharma, Ahmad Hasan, Aaron C. Laforge, et al.. "Manipulating Atomic Fragmentation Processes by Controlling the Projectile Coherence" Physical Review Letters Vol. 106 Iss. 15 (2011) p. 153202-1 - 153202-4 ISSN: 0031-9007 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/don-madison/223/