The development of lasers capable of producing high-intensity pulses has opened a new area in the study of light-matter interactions. The corresponding laser fields are strong enough to compete with the Coulomb forces in controlling the dynamics of atomic systems and give rise to multiphoton processes. This book presents a unified account of this rapidly developing field of physics. The first part describes the fundamental phenomena occurring in intense laser-atom interactions and gives the basic theoretical framework to analyze them. The second part contains a detailed discussion of Floquet theory, the numerical integration of the wave equations and approximation methods for the low- and high-frequency regimes. In the third part, the main multiphoton processes are discussed: multiphoton ionization, high harmonic and attosecond pulse generation, and laser-assisted electron-atom collisions. Aimed at graduate students in atomic, molecular and optical physics, the book will also interest researchers working on laser interactions with matter.
Long-range dipole-dipole and quadrupole-quadrupole interactions between pairs of Rydberg atoms are calculated perturbatively for calcium, strontium and ytterbium within the Coulomb approximation. Quantum defects, obtained by fitting existing laser spectroscopic data, are provided for all S, P , D and F series of strontium and for the 3 P2 series of calcium. The results show qualitative differences with the alkali metal atoms, including isotropically attractive interactions of the strontium 1 S0 states and a greater rarity of Förster resonances. Only two such resonances are identified, both in triplet series of strontium. The angular dependence of the long range interaction is briefly discussed.
Optical detection of Rydberg states using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) enables continuous measurement of electric fields in a confined geometry. In this paper, we demonstrate the formation of rf-dressed EIT resonances in a thermal Rb vapour and show that such states exhibit enhanced sensitivity to dc electric fields compared to their bare counterparts. Fitting the corresponding EIT profile enables precise measurements of the dc field independent of laser frequency fluctuations. Our results indicate that space charges within the enclosed cell reduce electric field inhomogeneities within the interaction region.
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