THE LOCKING PHENOMENON IN SCATTERING OF P-STATE ATOMS .2. QUASI-CLASSICAL INTERPRETATION OF HIGH-FREQUENCY INTERFERENCE PATTERN IN THE DIFFERENTIAL SCATTERING OF NA ON NE

The quasiclassical analysis of the differential cross section for the scattering of an excited non-polarized sodium atom on neon is presente d. The oscillatory behaviour of the cross section observed experimenta lly and calculated numerically within the close coupling approach is i nterpreted as being due to the superposition of two interference patte rns, one of them for waves scattered by the repulsive and attractive p arts of the Pi potential, the other one for waves scattered by the att ractive part of the Pi potential and repulsive Sigma potential. The la tter appears only when the long-range Coriolis coupling is taken into account. It is argued that previous interpretations of the high-freque ncy oscillations misunderstood the underlying mechanism, which is a cl ear manifestation of the locking phenomenon.