Dynamics of Rydberg wave packets generated by half-cycle pulses

Wave packets comprising a superposition of very-high-lying Rydberg states have been created using a half-cycle pulse (HCP). The properties of the wave packet are probed using a second HCP that is applied following a variable time delay. The second pulse ionizes a fraction of the atoms and the survival probability exhibits pronounced oscillations that are associated with the quasiperiodic evolution of the wave packet. Good agreement is found between the experimental data and the results of a classical trajectory Monte Carlo simulation demonstrating that, for the times investigated, classical-quantum correspondence holds and quantum corrections are negligible.