Berlin 2001 – scientific programme

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A: Atomphysik

A 20: Atoms in Fields

A 20.3: Talk

Friday, April 6, 2001, 16:15–16:30, H1058

Tunneling of Rydberg electrons in crossed electric and magnetic fields — •Wolfgang Ihra — Theoretical Quantum Dynamics, University Freiburg, Germany

Rydberg states of hydrogen in crossed electric and magnetic fields below the Stark saddle point energy have a finite decay width due to tunneling into asymptotic states. We study the tunneling dynamics semiclassically by using the imaginary time method. The dominant tunneling orbit for the motion in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field is identified for different strength of the electric and magnetic fields. Implications concerning trends in the total decay width of quantum states as a function of the energy and the field parameters are discussed.

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