Realization of the kicked atom

Abstract

The kicked atom is realized experimentally by exposing potassium np Rydberg atoms with nϳ388 to a sequence of up to 50 half-cycle pulses whose duration is much shorter than the classical electron orbital period. The Rydberg atom survival probability is observed to have a broad maximum for pulse repetition frequencies near the classical orbital frequency. Comparisons with detailed classical trajectory Monte Carlo simulations show that this behavior provides an unambiguous signature of dynamical stabilization. The classical simulations further show that the kicked hydrogen atom is, depending on the pulse repetition frequency, chaotic or characterized by a mixed phase space with various families of fully stable islands within which the atom is stable against ionization. Signatures of stabilization and chaotic diffusion are also observed in the final boundstate distribution of the surviving atoms.

Population Trapping in Extremely Highly Excited States in Microwave Ionization

“…120 atoms surviving decreases, but it is still ϳ3% with a 10 ns pulse. Recent measurements of Rydberg atoms kicked by a series of unipolar pulses also show atoms left in very high n states, again in disagreement with calculations [12]. Using the fact that there can be no transfer of energy from the field to the electron when it is far from the ion core and accounting for the state redistribution that occurs when the electron comes near the core we have developed a simple picture that reproduces the observed population transfer to what have been termed extremely highly excited states [5].…”

Control of quantum localization and classical diffusion in laser-kicked molecular rotors

“…Experimental work has mostly been conducted in substitute systems, imitating the QKR behavior with Rydberg atoms in microwave fields [6][7][8][9] or ultracold atoms in optical lattices [10][11][12][13][14][15]. In a series of recent articles [16][17][18][19][20], Averbukh and coworkers proposed a strategy to study a number of QKR phenomena in an ensemble of diatomic molecules exposed to a periodic sequence of ultrashort laser pulses.…”

Complete population transfer in a degenerate three-state atom

“…As mentioned in section III for example, the transfer is complete, instantaneous and permanent when V (t) = n odd π √ 2 δ(t − t 0 ). Such a quick, hard pulse is called [27,28,29] a 'kick'. Two practical limitations on this ideal model are the impossibility of producing a signal that varies as δ(t − t 0 ), and the existence of an infinitely wide spectrum of high frequency components with frequencies ω > ω max in the Fourier spectrum of δ(t − t 0 ).…”