Femtosecond laser pulses have been used to promote calcium atoms in stationary 4snd Rydberg levels to superpositions of 4pnd autoionizing states. The rapid excitation of the 4s core electron generates a "shock wave packet" that propagates through the previously stationary Rydberg wave function. The nonexponential decay of the autoionizing wave packet is probed using a second isolated-core excitation from the 4pnd to the 4dnd autoionizing series. Our measurements are in good agreement with the predictions of rime-dependent multichannel quantum defect theory. References: 20
展开▼
