Confirmation of Kramers-Henneberger Atoms
In a remarkable experiment, Eichmann et al. attained unprecedented acceleration of neutral atoms by strong short-pulse IR laser fields. The driving mechanism was identified as the ponderomotive force on excited electrons bound in Rydberg orbits that survive long enough to enable the atoms to reach t...
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Main Authors | , , , |
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Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
06.09.2016
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | In a remarkable experiment, Eichmann et al. attained unprecedented
acceleration of neutral atoms by strong short-pulse IR laser fields. The
driving mechanism was identified as the ponderomotive force on excited
electrons bound in Rydberg orbits that survive long enough to enable the atoms
to reach the detector. However, the observed velocities lie somewhat above the
theoretical prediction. The systematic discrepancy was attributed to "absolute
laser intensity uncertainties or a slightly non-Gaussian intensity
distribution". Here, we examine the process by transforming to the
Kramers-Henneberger (KH) reference frame. We find that in addition to the
ponderomotive potential there exists a smaller but significant term that comes
from the binding energy of the KH atom. Including this KH term brings the
calculated maximum velocities to a close match with experimental results over
the full range of laser pulse durations. |
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DOI: | 10.48550/arxiv.1609.01434 |