WORK FUNCTION FOR SURFACES OF RYDBERG MATTER - A JELLIUM APPROACH

The theoretical description of Rydberg matter as an electronically exc ited type of matter and the subsequent calculations of properties like work function for Rydberg matter of Cs was given by Manykin et al. (1 981-1992). Their work function values were less than 0.1 eV at princip al quantum numbers n > 15. Experimental studies of Rydberg matter of C s with n approximately equal to 15 gave work functions less than 0.7 e V. We have now derived approximate values of the work function for Ryd berg matter from the jellium theory, at 0.3 eV for n = 15, which are i ntermediate between the more exact theory due to Manykin et al. and th e experiments. This shows that the low work function is to a large ext ent due to the large interatomic distances in Rydberg matter.