Abstract

To probe the dynamics of a system, the time scale of the probing mechanism should be shorter then the characteristic time of the system. In case of a one-electron atom, the characteristic time of the electronic wavefunction is the classical round trip time of the electron. The characteristics of an electron bound to the core can be probed with light. In case of probing in the time domain this light should come from pulsed lasers. The classical round trip time of an electron scales with n³, and is 0.15 fs for the ground state of a hydrogen atom. This time is about ten times shorter then an oscillation of visible light. For Rydberg states the characteristic time increases quickly: for the state with principal quantum number n = 40 the orbit time is already 10 ps. In this time regime lasers are available.

© 1988 Optical Society of America