Photon-Scattering Theory of the Quenching of Hydrogenic Metastables

Abstract
The quenching of hydrogenic metastables is formulated as a near-resonant photon-scattering problem, and a complete analysis of the polarization and angular distribution of the emitted radiation is presented. The contribution from np states with n>2 is calculated, and an alternative method of measuring the Lamb shift is suggested.