Polarisation of the 63P1from S61S0line of mercury

Abstract

The theory of the polarisation of the 6³P₁ from 6¹S₀ line of Hg after excitation by forward scattered electrons is reviewed. Certain problems encountered in previous studies are pointed out and it is shown that the Ochkur approximation fails to give adequate agreement with the experiment. It is also pointed out that in the case where hyperfine splitting is not resolved experimentally that a different means of averaging over the nuclear hyperfine contribution must be employed. A discussion is presented on why an Ochkur-type approximation might improve on the Born approximation near an excitation threshold.