Photoionization microscopy of Rydberg hydrogen atom near a dielectric surface

Abstract

Based on the semiclassical analysis of photoionization microscopy, we study the ionization of the Rydberg hydrogen atom near a dielectric surface. The radial electron probability density distributions on a given detector plane are calculated at different scaled energies and near different dielectric surfaces. We find due to the interference effect of different types of electron trajectories arriving at a given point on the detector plane, oscillatory structures appear in the electron probability density distributions. With the increase in the scaled energy, more types of electron ionization trajectories appear and the oscillatory structure in the electron probability density distributions becomes complex. Besides, the dielectric constant of the dielectric surface can also affect the electron probability density distributions. Since the photoionization microscopy interference pattern recorded on the detector plane reflects the distribution of the square modulus of the transverse component of the electronic wave function, with the recorded interference pattern, we can investigate the ionization dynamics of the Rydberg atom near surfaces clearly. This study provides some reference values for the future experiment research on the photoionization microscopy of the Rydberg atom near dielectric surfaces.

Keywords:

• photoionization microscopy
• dielectric surface
• Rydberg atom
• semiclassical theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 11374133] and a Project of Shandong Province Higher Educational Science and Technology Program of China [grant number J13LJ04].