Demonstration of Turnstiles as a Chaotic Ionization Mechanism in Rydberg Atoms

Journal Article · Fri Sep 09 04:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.107.113002· OSTI ID:21611762

Burke, Korana; Mitchell, Kevin A; Wyker, Brendan; Shuzhen, Ye; Dunning, F Barry ^[1]

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1. School of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced, California 95344 (United States)

We present an experimental and theoretical study of the chaotic ionization of quasi-one-dimensional potassium Rydberg wave packets via a classical phase-space turnstile mechanism. Turnstiles form a general transport mechanism for numerous chaotic systems, and this study explicitly illuminates their relevance to atomic ionization. We create time-dependent Rydberg wave packets, subject them to alternating applied electric-field pulses, and measure the electron survival probability. Ionization depends not only on the initial electron energy, but also on the classical phase-space position of the electron with respect to the turnstile--that part of the electron packet inside the turnstile ionizes after the applied ionization sequence, while that part outside the turnstile does not. The survival data thus encode information on the shape and location of the turnstile, in good agreement with theoretical predictions.

• OSTI ID: 21611762
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 107; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ALKALI METALS
ATOMS
CHAOS THEORY
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LEVELS
EXCITED STATES
FERMIONS
IONIZATION
LEPTONS
MATHEMATICAL SPACE
MATHEMATICS
METALS
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
PHASE SPACE
POTASSIUM
PROBABILITY
PULSES
RYDBERG STATES
SPACE
TIME DEPENDENCE
WAVE PACKETS