Wave Functions and Transition Probabilities in Scaled Thomas-Fermi Ion Potentials

A semiempirical method for computing atomic and ionic wave functions is described. The method uses a one-electron potential obtained from a scaled Thomas-Fermi ionic charge distribution. The scale factors are chosen to make the one-electron binding energies agree with experimental ionization potentials. A number of oscillator strengths have been evaluated and are found to agree well with results of alternative methods of calculation. The method has a wider range of applicability than that of Bates and Damgaard, and calculations are much shorter than those using the self-consistent-field methods.