Circularly polarized microwave ionization of hydrogen

Journal Article · Tue Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · Physical Review A; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.47.4749· OSTI ID:6496936

Kappertz, P ^[1]; Nauenberg, M ^[2]

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1. Fachbereich Physik, Universitaet Oldenburg, 2900 Oldenburg (Germany)
2. Institute of Nonlinear Sciences and Physics Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064 (United States)

The low-frequency circularly polarized microwave ionization of highly excited states of the hydrogen atom is evaluated applying the adiabatic approximation in the classical limit. The ionization threshold is calculated by matching asymptotically the weak- and strong-field regimes, and the results are compared with numerical integrations of the equations of motion. Simulations for both linear and circular polarization are presented, corresponding to ensembles of initial states in experiments with linear polarized microwaves, at frequencies [omega][lt]0.6[omega][sub [ital K]], where [omega][sub [ital K]]=[ital n][sup [minus]3] is the initial Kepler frequency of a state with principal quantum number [ital n]. In contrast with the stochastic nature of the ionization for linearly polarized microwaves, the dynamic evolution in the case of circular polarization is quite regular and the threshold varies smoothly with frequency. As the static limit is approached, a scale-invariant switching-on procedure for the microwave field leads to a breakdown of the adiabatic approximation.

• OSTI ID: 6496936
• Journal Information: Physical Review A; (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review A; (United States) Vol. 47:6; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

664200* -- Spectra of Atoms & Molecules & their Interactions with Photons-- (1992-)
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ADIABATIC APPROXIMATION
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LEVELS
EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS OF MOTION
EXCITED STATES
HYDROGEN
IONIZATION
MICROWAVE RADIATION
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
RADIATIONS