SCATTERING MATRICES FOR THE EXAMINATION OF CONFIGURATION DEPENDENCES IN LASER-MODIFIED COLLISIONS

We examine how the theoretical analysis of configuration dependences a rising from crossed-beam molecular scattering in an intense laser held can be tractably handled. Difficulties in analysing such dependences derive from dynamical equations which do not conserve the total angula r momentum number J and moreover are parametrized by the total angular momentum projection quantum number M onto the field axis. We first ex amine simplifications which arise in the weak-field limit; for a given initial value of J we establish under broad conditions that a single weak-field close-coupling calculation suffices to determine all M depe ndent elements. We next extend this weak-field analysis to deal with m ore intense fields; essentially we intensity scale the elements from t he weak-field analysis and then mix these in a new procedure for prese rving unitarity in scattering matrices. Our resulting methodology is e xamined for a model laser-modified collision problem; results are very encouraging for utilization in realistic studies of configuration dep endences.