Displacing Rydberg electrons: the mono-cycle nature of half-cycle pulses.
A THz "half-cycle" pulse is a fast ( <1 ps) unipolar pulse, followed by a slow unipolar pulse of opposite polarity. We found that the interaction of such THz pulses with very high Rydberg states results in a displacement of the electron within the atom, while the ionization is strongly suppressed. In classical terms: the first fast unipolar feature corresponds to a start kick of the Rydberg electron, while the second unipolar feature acts as a stop kick. A semiclassical model is presented which qualitatively reproduces the ionization suppression and redistribution.
Wesdorp
C
C
FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Kruislaan 407, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Robicheaux
F
F
Noordam
L D
LD