Rydberg wave packets excited by laser pulses

An analysis is made of the absorption of laser radiation due to transitions close to the ionization threshold when many Rydberg states, as well as low-energy continuum states, participate in the process. Radial Rydberg wave packets are formed in these processes. These wave packets can be detected in Raman scattering using the two-pulse method. The first short laser pulse generates a Rydberg wave packet which is probed at a later time by the second short laser pulse. In the case of high-intensity long laser pulses, the formation of a wave packet is manifested as population pulsations of the initial state with the classical orbit time corresponding to the energy of the mean excited state.