Eur. Phys. J. D 26, 253-259 (2003)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2003-00271-9

Ionization of the hydrogen atom: from weak to strong static electric fields

¹ Laboratoire de Physique Quantique, IRSAMC, Unité associée au CNRS no. 505, Université Paul Sabatier, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
² J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 182 23 Praha 8, Czech Republic

Corresponding authors: ^a philippe.durand@irsamc.ups-tlse.fr - ^b ivana.paidarova@jh-inst.cas.cz

Received: 31 March 2003
Revised: 27 June 2003
Published online: 9 September 2003

Abstract

We present a study of the ionization of the hydrogen atom by weak and strong static electric fields from the ground state and from some excited states. The under- and above-ionization barrier dynamical regimes are accurately computed for short and long times. The results are interpreted through the spectral density which emphasizes, for transitory regimes, the role of the resonances arising from the ground and from the lowest excited states. The observability of the dynamics is discussed.