Ionization of Highly Excited Hydrogen Atoms by Intense Electromagnetic Fields.

摘要

A previous theory of atomic transitions in ultrastrong electromagnetic fields is applied to the problem of the ionization of highly excited hydrogen atoms. The magnitude of the fields necessary for the validity of the theory is greatly reduced by using excited hydrogen in the initial state, and the requirement of only multiphoton ionization limits the application to low-frequency (microwave) fields. The requirement can probably be satisfied with currently available equipment. A result of the calculation is that the average number of photons absorbed is twice the minimum number. (Author)