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Hydrogen Atoms under Magnification: Direct Observation of the Nodal Structure of Stark States

A. S. Stodolna, A. Rouzée, F. Lépine, S. Cohen, F. Robicheaux, A. Gijsbertsen, J. H. Jungmann, C. Bordas, and M. J. J. Vrakking
Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 213001 – Published 20 May 2013
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Abstract

To describe the microscopic properties of matter, quantum mechanics uses wave functions, whose structure and time dependence is governed by the Schrödinger equation. In atoms the charge distributions described by the wave function are rarely observed. The hydrogen atom is unique, since it only has one electron and, in a dc electric field, the Stark Hamiltonian is exactly separable in terms of parabolic coordinates (η, ξ, φ). As a result, the microscopic wave function along the ξ coordinate that exists in the vicinity of the atom, and the projection of the continuum wave function measured at a macroscopic distance, share the same nodal structure. In this Letter, we report photoionization microscopy experiments where this nodal structure is directly observed. The experiments provide a validation of theoretical predictions that have been made over the last three decades.

  • Received 18 January 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.213001

© 2013 American Physical Society

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A New Look at the Hydrogen Wave Function

Published 20 May 2013

A newly-developed “quantum microscope” uses photoionization and an electrostatic magnifying lens to directly observe the electron orbitals of an excited hydrogen atom.

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Authors & Affiliations

A. S. Stodolna1,*, A. Rouzée1,2, F. Lépine3, S. Cohen4, F. Robicheaux5, A. Gijsbertsen1, J. H. Jungmann1, C. Bordas3, and M. J. J. Vrakking1,2,*

  • 1FOM Institute AMOLF, Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 2Max-Born-Institut, Max Born Straße 2A, D-12489 Berlin, Germany
  • 3Institut Lumière Matière, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5306, 10 Rue Ada Byron, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France
  • 4Atomic and Molecular Physics Laboratory, Physics Department, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
  • 5Department of Physics, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849, USA

  • *Corresponding author.

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Issue

Vol. 110, Iss. 21 — 24 May 2013

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