Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pjpqr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-16T23:51:11.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - The kicked rotor: paradigm of chaos

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2009

R. Blümel
Affiliation:
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
W. P. Reinhardt
Affiliation:
University of Washington
Get access

Summary

In this and the following chapters we will encounter various time dependent and time independent atomic physics systems whose classical counterparts are chaotic. All the systems discussed in the remaining chapters of this book are examples of type I systems, i.e. examples for quantized chaos. This is natural since quantized chaos is by far the most important type of quantum chaos relevant in atomic and molecular physics. In the category “time dependent systems”, we discuss the rotational dynamics of diatomic molecules (Section 5.4), the microwave excitation of surface state electrons (Chapter 6), and hydrogen Rydberg atoms in strong microwave fields (Chapters 7 and 8). All these systems are driven by externally applied microwave fields. For strong fields none of these three systems can be understood on the basis of quantum perturbation theory, as the involved multi-photon orders are very high. Processes of multiphoton orders 100 to 300, typically, have to be considered. It is important to realize that in this day and age, with powerful super-computers at hand, there is no problem in implementing a perturbation expansion of such high orders. But the emphasis is on understanding the processes involved. Although multi-photon perturbation theory provides valuable insight into the physics of low order multi-photon processes important in the case of weak applied fields (an example is discussed in Section 6.3), not much insight is gained from a perturbation expansion that has to be carried along to the 100th order and beyond in order to converge.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×