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Molecular collisions in a laser field: Basis set selection and the rotating‐wave approximation
Author(s) -
Devries Paul L.,
Lam KaiShue,
George Thomas F.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of quantum chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.484
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-461X
pISSN - 0020-7608
DOI - 10.1002/qua.560160854
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry) , basis (linear algebra) , laser , field (mathematics) , set (abstract data type) , collision , physics , simple (philosophy) , statistical physics , basis set , classical mechanics , computer science , theoretical physics , computational physics , quantum mechanics , molecule , mathematics , paleontology , philosophy , geometry , computer security , epistemology , pure mathematics , biology , programming language
The rotating‐wave approximation (RWA) is discussed in the context of molecular collision processes occurring in the presence of laser radiation. While the basic concept of RWA (that antiresonant processes are insignificant when compared to resonant ones and hence can be ignored) is applicable to the molecular case as well as the atomic, the additional degrees of freedom render the application of RWA to molecular problems less transparent than to atomic problems. The application to molecular problems is formally discussed, and simple illustrative examples are presented. Difficulties associated with the application of RWA to more complex, and realistic, situations are remarked upon.