Photon-Scattering Theory of the Quenching of Hydrogenic Metastables

Abstract

The quenching of hydrogenic metastables is formulated as a near-resonant photon-scattering problem, and a complete analysis of the polarization and angular distribution of the emitted radiation is presented. The contribution from $\mathrm{np}$ states with $n>2$ is calculated, and an alternative method of measuring the Lamb shift is suggested.