The Electron's Journey (IMAGE)
Caption
When a strong laser shines on helium gas atoms, electrons transition from ground to excited state. The excited atoms then emit light corresponding to the energy difference between the two states and the electrons come back to their original ground state. The general believe is that this happens when the atoms absorb several light particles (photons). However, according to this research, the journey of the electrons can take a different path: when the intensity of the laser field is high, the electrons can experience frustrated tunneling ionization (FTI): rather than coming back straight away to the ground state, they can remain floating near the atom, in the so-called Rydberg states. In this case, the emitted light depends on the energy difference between Rydberg and ground states.
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