The Stark spectroscopy of the hydrogen atom has been investigated near the ionization threshold in static homogeneous external electric fields from \ensuremath{\sim}1000 to \ensuremath{\sim}8000 V/cm with use of a two-step excitation H(n=1)+\ensuremath{\Elzxh}${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{\mathrm{vuv}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}$H(n=2)+\ensuremath{\Elzxh}\ensuremath{\omega} $_{\mathrm{uv}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}$
H∗ with vuv and uv laser radiation, independently tunable and linearly polarized either parallel (\ensuremath{\pi}) or perpendicular (\ensuremath{\sigma}) with respect to the external field. Different from other, nonhydrogenic atoms, the hydrogen atom is a peculiar case insofar as the initial states of H(n=2), from which excitation takes place, are essentially of parabolic character at the field strengths employed in this study.Individual sublevels (
n1,
n2,\ensuremath{\Vert}
ml\ensuremath{\Vert}) have been prepared in the n=2 state with sub-Doppler resolution. Photoionization spectra have been obtained with \ensuremath{\pi}- and \ensuremath{\sigma}-polarized uv radiation from the four possible sublevels of the n=2 Stark manifold: \ensuremath{\Vert}1,0,0〉 \ensuremath{\Vert}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1/2〉, \ensuremath{\Vert}0,1,0〉 \ensuremath{\Vert}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1/2〉, \ensuremath{\Vert}0,0,\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1〉 \ensuremath{\Vert}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1/2〉, and \ensuremath{\Vert}0,0,\ensuremath{\mp}1〉 \ensuremath{\Vert}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1/2〉. All spectra show sharp line structures of quasistable field-ionizing states superimposed on continua in the energy region between the classical saddle point, ${E}_{\mathrm{SP}=\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}2\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\surd}}\mathrm{F}}$ a.u., and the zero-field ionization threshold E=0 a.u. Employing existing theoretical treatments, the quasistable spectral structures are quantitatively completely analyzed and accounted for, as long as their field ionization rate is less than \ensuremath{\sim}5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}
1011 ${\mathrm{sec}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$. Field-ionization rates of quasistable states have been measured and are compared with theory. Oscillatory resonance structures of the ionization cross section near the zero-field threshold are observed with pronounced modulation degree only in the spectrum from the \ensuremath{\Vert}1,0,0〉 \ensuremath{\Vert}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1/2〉 sublevel excited with the uv \ensuremath{\pi}-polarized. The energy spacing of the oscillations has been measured as a function of the electric field strength F and found to be nearly proportional to
F3/4, with slight but definite deviations. Theoretical analysis of the oscillations yields quantitative agreement with the experiment.
A theoretical analysis is made of the method of selective ionization of atoms based on selective resonance excitation by laser radiation to quantum states near the ionization threshold and subsequent autoionization decay of the excited states under the influence of an external electric field. The autoionization of atoms in static and pulsed electric fields is considered. Calculation formulas are obtained for the probability of autoionization of a hydrogenlike atom and corrections are computed for the influence of the electron shells. Numerical estimates are obtained for the autoionization of the n = 7–12 states of the Rb atom in an electric field.
The strong interatomic interaction effects on photoabsorption cross sections of a private atom have been interpreted by the contribution of both the real and imaginary parts of atomic polarizability in the present work. Some unresolved differences between the photoabsorption cross sections of isolated atoms and those of condensed atoms, especially near thresholds and resonances, probably could be interpreted by the competition between the imaginary and real parts of atomic frequency-dependent polarizabilities.