Theory of Atomic Processes in Strong Resonant Electromagnetic Fields

Abstract

Publisher Summary The objective of this chapter is to describe some recent work on the interaction of atomic systems with intense, near-resonant, and narrow-band laser fields. There are concerns with multiphoton processes but multiphoton processes may be divided for convenience into two types. (1) Those in which there is net absorption (or emission) of two or more photons by the atom, such as multiphoton ionization or two-photon absorption. (2) Those in which there are repeated emissions and absorptions of photons by the atom but in which, at the end of the interaction period, the energy of the atom is unchanged or has changed by only single photon energy. An example is resonance fluorescence where the energy initially residing in the laser field is redistributed by many absorptions and subsequent emissions of photons although, at the end of the interaction period, the atomic energy is unchanged. This chapter concentrates on the resonance fluorescence and the optical Autler–Townes effect. Related phenomena such as Raman scattering in intense fields are also discussed in the chapter.