The application of polarisation-influenced Thomas-Fermi ion models to alkali-atom transitions

A scaled Thomas-Fermi potential including spin-orbit interaction and a core polarisation potential has been applied to determine a complete set of radiative lifetimes for all alkali-metal atoms up to the quantum number n=15. The oscillator strengths of the Cs and Rb principal series are presented up to n=25. Different forms of the electric dipole moment including core polarisation have been used. Cs transitions have been computed by a pure Thomas-Fermi potential without any polarisation terms to ascertain the influence of the spin-orbit interaction and the core polarisation in both the model potential and the transition matrix elements.