PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Recent investigations of laser-atom interaction at high intensities have led to the discovery of several unexpected phenomena, and their studies have deepened our understanding of non-perturbative dynamics of quantum systems subjected to unusually strong radiation fields. For the analysis and interpretation of these phenomena. We have developed an ab initio non-perturbative method, the Floquet close-coupling method, and applied it to analyse the highly non-perturbative problem of adiabatic stability of hydrogen atom. Ab initio rates of ionization as a function of the laser intensity for the excited circular states as well as related non-circular states are obtained. Our quantitatively accurate results clearly show that the predictions of the previous approximate theories such as the well-known ''high-frequency'' theory are qualitatively similar but differ quantitatively. The analysis of the dependence of adiabatic stability on the principal quantum number, the angular momentum, as well as on the magnetic quantum number for the Rydberg states are complemented by investigations of the behavior of the ground state for frequencies below the ionization threshold. In the latter situation we found the existence of stability windows within which the ionization probability decreases with increasing intensity but outside of which the atom becomes more unstable. It is shown here that the mechanism for the occurrence of stability windows is the self-tuned anti-resonance at specific intensities.