ATOMIC DYNAMICS WITH PHOTON-DRESSED CORE STATES

This paper describes the atomic dynamics when a Rydberg atom is in a laser field which is resonant with a dipole-allowed core transition. The main approximation is to completely ignore the (short-range, direct) interaction of the outer electron with the resonant laser which is the same approximation used with great success in calculating the spectrum due to isolated core excitations (ICE). The atom autoionizes when the core absorbs a photon, because the electron can then inelastically scatter from the excited core state, gaining enough energy to escape the atom. Despite neglecting the direct interaction between the outermost electron and the laser, the laser profoundly affects the autoionization dynamics. This effect is incorporated through a frame transformation between the dressed and undressed core states which only utilizes the field free atomic scattering parameters. A two-color experiment is proposed which might be able to measure nonperturbative effects arising from the dressed core states. The usual ICE transition rate is obtained through a perturbative expansion. Generic effects are examined through a model problem. A calculation of the Mg spectrum when the driving laser is tuned to the 3s1/2-3p1/2 or the 3s1/2-3p3/2 transition is presented.