The Study of Atom-Atom Electron-Molecule & Photon-Molecule Processes.

This research program has had two principal streams of activity. The first, and the major consumer of effort, has been the computation of cross-sections and rate coefficients for significant collision processes between light atoms and ions. The other stream of activity has been development of computational methods in collision mechanics. The cross-section computations have on several occasions predicted experiments and/or corrected experimental errors. The prediction of the efficiency of the reaction Cs + H yields Cs(+) + H(-) was listed by the American Physical Society as a significant result for plasma physics in 1976. The first prediction of a process which could lead to a soft x-ray laser (Li + He(++) yields Li(+) + He(+*) yields Li(+) + He(+) + h(nu)) was made in 1978. The population inversion predicted has since been experimentally validated. (Author)