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Session J15 - Poster Session II.
POSTER session, Sunday morning, April 20
Congressional Hall, Renaissance

[J15.04] Atomic Polarizabilities: Quantal and Classical Perspectives.

M. Ciocca (Physical Electronics Research Institute, Old Dominion University), P. T. Nellesen, J. F. Baugh, C.E. Burkhardt, D. A. Edmonds, J.J. Leventhal (Department of Physics, University of Missouri-St. Louis)

The mechanism by which an external electric field induces in an atom an electric dipole moment is formulated from classical and quantal points of view. It is shown that the expressions for the atomic polarizability derived from each of these viewpoints are, to the same level of approximation, identical. The classical perspective is, however, more intuitive and provides a more insightful picture. The results are compared with our recent measurement of the polarizability of the nominally hydrogenic 30d-state of sodium (PRA, 54) R4645 (1996).

Part J of program listing