Classical and quantum dynamics of the impulsively driven hydrogen atom

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:6891036

Melles, M; Reinhold, C O; Burgdoerfer, J ^[1]

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1. Tennessee Univ., Knoxville, TN (United States) Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)

We investigate the classical and quantum dynamics of the hydrogen atom in a Rydberg state subject to a sequence of periodic and random pulses. One goal of this study is to test the validity of classical electron transport theories. We analyze the critical momentum transfer for which 10% of the Rydberg atoms are ionized after a large number of pulses as a function of the frequency of the perturbation. The quantum mechanical results for a periodic sequence of pulses exhibit clear structures which are not present in a classical simulation. These structures are shown to vanish for the case of stochastic pulses for which agreement is obtained between the classical and quantum mechanical results. The dynamics of the quantum mechanical periodic system is analyzed in terms of quasi-eigenstates of the period-one time evolution operator.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; NSF; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); National Science Foundation, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 6891036
• Report Number(s): CONF-921116-3; ON: DE93002430
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

661100 -- Classical & Quantum Mechanics-- (1992-)
664100* -- Theory of Electronic Structure of Atoms & Molecules-- (1992-)
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
COLLISIONS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LEVELS
EXCITED STATES
HAMILTONIANS
HYDROGEN
ION COLLISIONS
MATHEMATICAL OPERATORS
MECHANICS
MOMENTUM TRANSFER
NONMETALS
QUANTUM MECHANICS
QUANTUM OPERATORS
RYDBERG STATES
TRANSPORT THEORY