Our group is investigating a number of different research
problems in the area of highly
excited Rydberg atoms in strong magnetic and electric
fields.
In the following you can find some ideas.
Rydberg atoms belong to the
simplest physical systems which exhibit regular, chaotic as well as intermittent
types of motion. They show a rich variety of classical as well as quantum
signatures of chaos. Due to the nonseparability of the center of mass and
electronic motion the transition from regularity to chaos in the electronic
motion shows up in particular in the center of mass motion.
The following picture shows the motion of the center
of mass first for regular electronic motion :
(a) a short propagation time and (b) for a longer
propagation time
The next picture gives you a hint how the classical dynamics of the center of mass looks like for chaotic electronic motion.
According to the above figures the center of mass motion exhibits a transition from bound oscillatory motion to a diffusive unbounded and random like motion of deterministic origin.
New atomic structures
arise due to the coupling of the motions. A striking example for this are
giant dipole states for neutral atoms in crossed electric and magnetic
fields which represent a new phase of matter.
The potential V in which the giant dipole states live.
For atomic
ions:
With varying parameter values (field strength, energy,
collective motion) a number of different dynamical
phenomena can be observed which have their origin in different
energy
transfer mechanisms. Examples are the
self
stabilization effect and the self ionization process
for the highly
excited atomic ion moving in a magnetic field.
The ionization profile of moving atomic ions in a magnetic field:
