Photoionization of the sodium atom and electron scattering from ionized sodium

The method of polarized orbitals developed by Temkin has been used to calculate the photoionization cross sections from sodium atoms, from threshold to about 60 eV. The polarized orbitals are calculated by using Sternheimer's equation. The polarizability of Na+ is found to be 1.091 a03, which is very close to the experimental value. The scattering equation is solved in the exchange, the exchange-adiabatic and the polarized orbital approximations. Both the bound state and the continuum state wave functions are solved in the same approximation, consistently. The bound state wave functions for the sodium atom are calculated by finding the binding energy for the 3s electron corresponding to each approximation. The scattering state wave function is found for the p wave, needed for photoionization cross sections, as well as for the s and d waves for use in the (e + Na+) scattering problem. The phase shifts obtained for s, p, and d waves for the e + Na+ system are also believed to be very accurate. These phase shifts are used to calculate the differential cross sections and the phase shifts, as well as these cross sections, agree very well with other available results