Highly Excited Atoms

• Preface; 1. Closed shells, sphericity, stability and 'magic numbers'; 2. Rydberg states; 3. Quantum defect theory for bound states; 4. Atomic f-values; 5. Centrifugal barrier effects; 6. Autoionisation; 7. Inner shell and double excitation spectra; 8. K-Matrix theory of autoionising resonances; 9. Atoms in high laser fields; 10. Statistical methods and 'quantum chaology'; 11. Atomic effects in solids; 12. Atomic clusters; References; Index.

'One of the strengths of this book is its connectivity: topics as diverse as metallic clusters, high power laser effects on matter, Rydberg atoms and quantum chaology are sewn together with remarkable continuity, such that the book reads like a good novel … This graduate level textbook should be accessible to those with a good grounding in quantum mechanics and basic spectroscopy, and is potentially of interest to a range of physical chemists using VUV and X-ray probes of the character of chemical systems in both gaseous and condensed media.' T. P. Softley, Chemistry in Britain