Inhibition of quantum transport due to ``scars'' of unstable periodic orbits
Abstract
A new quantum mechanism for the suppression of chaotic ionization of highly excited hydrogen atoms explains the appearance of anomalously stable states in the microwave ionization experiments of Koch et al. A novel phase-space representation of the perturbed wave functions reveals that the inhibition of quantum transport is due to the selective excitation of wave functions that are highly localized near unstable periodic orbits in the chaotic classical phase space. These ``scarred'' wave functions provide a new basis for the quantum description of variety of classically chaotic systems.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- December 1989
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.63.2771
- Bibcode:
- 1989PhRvL..63.2771J
- Keywords:
-
- Atomic Excitations;
- Chaos;
- Hydrogen Atoms;
- Transport Theory;
- Eigenvectors;
- Manifolds (Mathematics);
- Quantum Mechanics;
- Wave Functions;
- Atomic and Molecular Physics;
- 05.45.+b;
- 03.65.-w;
- 32.80.Rm;
- Quantum mechanics;
- Multiphoton ionization and excitation to highly excited states