Chaotic enhancement in microwave ionization of Rydberg atoms

TL;DR

This paper investigates how internal chaos in Rydberg atoms, caused by magnetic or electric fields, enhances microwave ionization, providing analytical and numerical insights into the excitation process and potential experimental setups.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of chaotic enhancement in microwave ionization of Rydberg atoms, combining dynamical localization theory with numerical simulations.

Findings

Chaos significantly increases ionization efficiency.

Dynamical localization explains excitation even with thousands of photons.

Potential for laboratory experiments to observe these effects.

Abstract

The microwave ionization of internally chaotic Rydberg atoms is studied analytically and numerically. The internal chaos is induced by magnetic or static electric fields. This leads to a chaotic enhancement of microwave excitation. The dynamical localization theory gives a detailed description of the excitation process even in a regime where up to few thousands photons are required to ionize one atom. Possible laboratory experiments are also discussed.