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Abstract:
We examine the effects of a linearly polarized nonresonant radiative field on the dynamics of rotationally inelastic Na⁺ +N₂ collisions at eV collision energies. Our treatment is based on the Fraunhofer model of matter wave scattering and its recent extension to collisions in electric fields [M. Lemeshko and B. Friedrich, J. Chem. Phys., in press]. The nonresonant radiative field changes the effective shape of the target molecule by aligning it in the space-fixed frame. This markedly alters the differential and integral scattering cross sections. As the cross sections can be evaluated for a polarization of the radiative field collinear or perpendicular to the relative velocity vector, the model also offers predictions about steric asymmetry of the collisions.
