In this thesis, the ionization of atoms and small molecules in strong laser fields is experimentally studied using a reaction microscope. The population of autoionizing doubly excited states in the laser fields is proven and a possible connection to the well-known dielectronic recombination processes is discussed. The fundamental process of tunnel ionization in strong laser fields is subject of investigation in a pump-probe experiment with ultrashort laser pulses. A coherent superposition of electronic states in singly charged argon ions is created within the first, and subsequently tunnel-ionized with the second pulse. This gives access to state-selective information about the tunneling process and allows to test common models. Moreover, the ionization of krypton and argon at different wavelengths is studied, from the multiphoton to the tunneling regime. The wavelength-dependent investigations are furthermore extended to molecular hydrogen. In addition to ionization, this system might undergo different dissociative processes. Channel-selective electron momentum distributions are presented and compared to each other.

As part of the Physics 2010 decadal survey project, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation requested that the National Research Council assess the opportunities, over roughly the next decade, in atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) science and technology. In particular, the National Research Council was asked to cover the state of AMO science, emphasizing recent accomplishments and identifying new and compelling scientific questions. Controlling the Quantum World, discusses both the roles and challenges for AMO science in instrumentation; scientific research near absolute zero; development of extremely intense x-ray and laser sources; exploration and control of molecular processes; photonics at the nanoscale level; and development of quantum information technology. This book also offers an assessment of and recommendations about critical issues concerning maintaining U.S. leadership in AMO science and technology.

Advances in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

The first in-depth treatment of the synthesis, processing, and characterization of nanomaterials using lasers, ranging from fundamentals to the latest research results, this handy reference is divided into two main sections. After introducing the concepts of lasers, nanomaterials, nanoarchitectures and laser-material interactions in the first three chapters, the book goes on to discuss the synthesis of various nanomaterials in vacuum, gas and liquids. The second half discusses various nanomaterial characterization techniques involving lasers, from Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopies to light dynamic scattering, laser spectroscopy and such unusual techniques as laser photo acoustic, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, ultrafast dynamics and laser-induced thermal pulses. The specialist authors adopt a practical approach throughout, with an emphasis on experiments, set-up, and results. Each chapter begins with an introduction and is uniform in covering the basic approaches, experimental setups, and dependencies of the particular method on different parameters, providing sufficient theory and modeling to understand the principles behind the techniques.

Comprises a comprehensive reference source that unifies the entire fields of atomic molecular and optical (AMO) physics, assembling the principal ideas, techniques and results of the field. 92 chapters written by about 120 authors present the principal ideas, techniques and results of the field, together with a guide to the primary research literature (carefully edited to ensure a uniform coverage and style, with extensive cross-references). Along with a summary of key ideas, techniques, and results, many chapters offer diagrams of apparatus, graphs, and tables of data. From atomic spectroscopy to applications in comets, one finds contributions from over 100 authors, all leaders in their respective disciplines. Substantially updated and expanded since the original 1996 edition, it now contains several entirely new chapters covering current areas of great research interest that barely existed in 1996, such as Bose-Einstein condensation, quantum information, and cosmological variations of the fundamental constants. A fully-searchable CD- ROM version of the contents accompanies the handbook.

This book collects the lectures given at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Atoms in Strong Fields", which took place on the island of Kos, Greece, during the two weeks of October 9-21,1988. The designation "strong field" applies here to an external electromagnetic field that is sufficiently strong to cause highly nonlinear alterations in atomic or molecular struc ture and dynamics. The specific topics treated in this volume fall into two general cater gories, which are those for which strong field effects can be studied in detail in terrestrial laboratories: the dynamics of excited states in static or quasi-static electric and magnetic fields; and the interaction of atoms and molecules with intense laser radiation. In both areas there exist promising opportunities for research of a fundamental nature. An electric field of even a few volts per centimeter can be very strong on the atom ic scale, if it acts upon a weakly bound state. The study of Rydberg states with high reso lution laser spectroscopic techniques has made it possible to follow the transition from weak-field to strong-field behavior in remarkable detail, using static fields of modest lab oratory strength; in the course of this transition the atomic system evolves from one which can be thoroughly understood in terms of field-free quantum numbers, to one which cannot be meaningfully associated at all with the zero-field states of the atom.