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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Electron beam from oriented Rydberg atoms irradiated by a half-cycle pulse

Imants Bersons, Y Korovin

Published Jul 11, 2008• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The angular and energy distributions of electrons emitted from Rydberg atoms prepared in the extreme Stark state and irradiated by a short half-cycle pulse are calculated in the framework of quantum-mechanical and semiclassical theories. It is supposed that the pulse direction coincides with the direction of orientation of atoms. The emitted electrons are concentrated in a small angle around the direction of orientation of the Rydberg atoms. Semiclassical theory shows that the width of the angular distribution scales as 1/qn3/2 and decreases with increase of either the principal quantum number n of the initial state or the momentum q transferred to the electron.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/41/15/155002

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The angular and energy distributions of electrons emitted from Rydberg atoms prepared in the extreme Stark state and irradiated by a short half-cycle pulse are calculated in the framework of quantum-mechanical and semiclassical theories. It is supposed that the pulse direction coincides with the direction of orientation of atoms. The emitted electrons are concentrated in a small angle around the direction of orientation of the Rydberg atoms. Semiclassical theory shows that the width of the angular distribution scales as 1/qn3/2 and decreases with increase of either the principal quantum number n of the initial state or the momentum q transferred to the electron.
We study the ionization of Rydberg atoms in a single-cycle-pulse electric field based on both classical and quantum calculations. The ionization-probability curve exhibits a ``ripple'' structure as a function of the pulse duration and the field amplitude. These ripple structures are found to be dependent on the angular distribution of the initial state. A large electron-emission asymmetry is observed, and the ionized electron is almost completely emitted to one side of the atom except when the pulse length is roughly one Rydberg period. In both the long-pulse and the short-pulse regimes, larger electron energy can be expected from the ionization of lower-lying Rydberg states, matching the observation in a recent experiment [S. Li and R. R. Jones, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 143006 (2014)]. This trend is closely related to the electron-emission asymmetry associated with the field-direction change in a single-cycle pulse. The possible implications of the different energy transfer in a single-cycle pulse from that in a multicycle pulse are also discussed briefly for the strong-field ionization of the ground atomic state.
Classical, quantum-mechanical, and semiclassical expressions for the transition probability in one-dimensional Rydberg atom irradiated by short half-cycle pulse are derived and compared. The simple formulas obtained for excitation of Rydberg atom by two time delayed weak half-cycle pulses reproduce well the experimental data and the solutions of time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation. When the transferred momenta are stronger and positive, the transition probabilities exhibit fast oscillations with time delay between the pulses. The classical transition probability is constant in time. For negative transferred momenta a focusing phenomenon is observed, and there is a region in time delay, where the transition probabilities oscillate with the Kepler period.
Approximate momentum distributions of Rydberg electrons in static electric fields have been obtained using an improved impulsive momentum retrieval (IMR) technique. An imaging detector enables the measurement of half-cycle pulse (HCP) ionization probability across the spatial profile of a focused half-cycle pulse beam. By modulating the HCP amplitude we directly measure the derivative of the ionization vs HCP impulse curve, enabling the recovery of momentum distributions with better resolution than previously demonstrated with IMR. For example, for Stark states with small dipole moments, we observe predicted fine-structure in the projection of the momentum distribution along the Stark field axis. We use a semiclassical model to simulate the effect that the nonzero HCP duration has on our measurements. Good agreement between simulated and measured momentum distributions is obtained.
The asymptotic velocity distribution of electrons ionized in half-cycle-pulse excitation of high Rydberg states (n=34), placed in a static electric field, is studied using electron velocity-map imaging. At weak half-cycle pulse strengths, the electrons escape over the saddle point in the potential. For strong half-cycle pulses, the electrons are emitted in the direction of the field kick. The much slower and less intense half cycle of opposite polarity, which necessarily follows the main half-cycle pulse, strongly affects the momentum distribution and reduces the excess energy of the electrons significantly.