Ba autoionizing states in strong electric fields

Abstract

In strong ($\frac{1}{3n^5}<?<\frac{1}{16n^4}$) electric fields, Ba autoionizing states converging to the ${\mathrm{Ba}}^{+}$ $6p_{\frac{1}{2}}$ limit have autoionization rates which do not exhibit the familiar $n^{-3\mathrm{}}$ scaling but rather have an $n^{-4\mathrm{}}$ scaling which is independent of the field. This is consistent with the interpretation that most of the autoionization rates come from a few low-angular-momentum zero-field states. In addition, the observed excitation spectra imply that the spectral distribution of the stabilizing radiation in dielectronic recombination is narrower in the presence of an electric field than without it. This implies that the notions used to describe dielectronic recombination in zero field are valid in the presence of a field.