Simulation of wave-function microscopy images of Stark resonances

Abstract

Wave-function microscopy images for Stark resonance states of H atoms are simulated using the quantum-mechanical formalism developed previously. Spatial distributions of ejected electron current densities are compared with experiment, and a good agreement is shown. The nonzero values of minima in the experimentally observed electron current distributions are reproduced by convoluting the theoretical current distribution with an instrumental function representing uncertainties in the position. Our relative strengths of the ejected electron current densities differ from those calculated with the wave packet propagation technique. We show that for the full convergence of the calculation, the distance between the ionized atom and the detector should exceed $10\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$.