Interaction of half-cycle radiation pulse with polarized states of atomic hydrogen

We describe the results of our solutions of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for polarized states of atomic hydrogen exposed to a short pulse of intense, long-wavelength, continuum radiation. The duration of the π-polarized unipolar pulse is of the order of the Kepler period of the state being irradiated, and the pulse is sufficiently intense to ionize a significant fraction of the initial state. Markedly different behavior is observed for the maximally ‘‘redshifted’’ versus the maximally ‘‘blueshifted’’ initial state, depending upon whether the pulse duration is less than or greater than the underlying Kepler period. © 1996 The American Physical Society.