Nondispersing wave packets

Journal Article · Thu Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.75.033410· OSTI ID:20982358

Maeda, H; Gallagher, T F ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-0714 (United States)

A nondispersing Rydberg wave packet can be made by applying a weak, linearly polarized field at the Kepler frequency of a Rydberg atom. The field phase locks the electron's motion to the microwave field, and the wave packet retains its spatial localization for times in excess of a microsecond. The electron's orbital oscillation leads to an oscillating dipole, which can either oscillate in phase or out of phase with the applied microwave field, creating wave packets analogous to Trojan and anti-Trojan wave packets described theoretically. Our observations can be described in both quantum mechanical and classical terms.

• OSTI ID: 20982358
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 75, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.75.033410; (c) 2007 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOMS
DIPOLES
ELECTRONS
MICROWAVE RADIATION
OSCILLATIONS
PHOTOIONIZATION
PHOTON-ATOM COLLISIONS
QUANTUM MECHANICS
RYDBERG STATES
WAVE PACKETS