Dissertation Summary:

The study of quantum mechanical systems on extremely fast time scales is a subject that has benefitted greatly from recent advances in laser technology.  We explore the use of a very special type of electromagnetic pulse, called a "Half-Cycle Pulse" (HCP), to study processes which take place in a few trillionths of a second.  Much like a strobe light produces a frozen frame of a quick movement, ultrashort HCPs can be used to study the motion of atomic electrons at  arbitrary space-time points as they orbit their parent nucleus.  We are specifically interested in the dynamics of atoms in magnetic fields, a very general problem in atomic physics, with applications as diverse as magnetic resonance imaging and distant pulsars.  Although the motion of atomic electrons is usually only slightly altered by a magnetic field, when an electron is in a highly excited state a laboratory-scale magnetic field can significantly alter both the momentum and position distribution of the electron.  By studying the HCP ionization of atoms in a strong magnetic field, in both the short and the long pulse limits, we can understand how these distributions evolve in time, and possibly even learn how to actively control them.