| Quasiresonance is a quite general effect that may arise from the coupling between approximately resonant internal degrees of freedom in a system perturbed by some external transient interaction. In a process induced by the slowly switching on and off of the coupling interaction, quasiresonance is characterized by the existence of significant ranges of initial states in the perturbed system over which some very specific and efficient transfer of energy between the two internal degrees of freedom occurs. This work presents a detailed classical and quantum analysis of quasiresonant processes in grazing incident angle atom-surface collisions. The classical theory of quasiresonance applied to this system makes clear the appropriate conditions for the quasiresonance effect to arise, and provides an analytical estimate for the size of the main quasiresonance regions. In the quantum analysis, the diffraction probabilities and the quantum dwell time are considered. We discuss whether the quantum dynamics in the atom-surface scattering process shares any common mechanism with the classical quasiresonance. |
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