R.R. Jones and P.H. Bucksbaum
Abstract:Recent technological advances have made it possible to create extrememly short (< 10^-12 sec) pulses of electromagnetic radiation at Terahertz frequencies. The number of cycles of the electric field in these pulses is actually less than unity, establishing them as the shortest possible pulses at these frequencies. The pulses have been used to study strong field effects in Rydberg atoms in the regime where the duration of the pulse is shorter than the classical period of the Rydberg electron. The dynamics of the atom-field interaction can be described classically and serveral perviously unobserved phenomena have been studied. Current and future experiments are interesting from the point of view of fast atom-ion collisions, nonperturbative high field atomic physics, and classical or semi-classical physics. Possibilities for new experiments are numerous.
Status: Published,Comments on Atomic and Molecular Physics, 28, L457 (1995)