The recurrence spectra of the Rydberg hydrogen atom interacting with a metallic surface and an electric field

Abstract

The classical electronic motion of the Rydberg hydrogen atom near a metallic surface in the presence of a uniform electric field has been studied by using the closed orbit theory. The recurrence spectra of this system have also been calculated. The results show: for a given scaled energy larger than the critical energy ɛ s, as the scaled electric field is very small ( f = 0.01), the influence of the electric field can be neglected and the recurrence spectra are nearly the same as those of the Rydberg hydrogen atom near a metallic surface. With the increase of the scaled electric field, the electric field force acting on the electron counteracts the metallic attraction, and then the probability that the electron might be captured by the metal surface is small. Therefore, the number of the closed orbits increases and there are more peaks in the recurrence spectra accordingly. As f = 1.0, the influence of the metallic surface becomes small and the recurrence spectra are similar to the case as only electric field exists.