Revival Structure of Stark Wave Packets

Abstract

The revival structure of Stark wave packets is considered. These wave packets have energies depending on two quantum numbers and are characterized by two sets of classical periods and revival times. The additional time scales result in revival structures different from those of free Rydberg wave packets. We show that Stark wave packets can exhibit fractional revivals. We also show that these wave packets exhibit particular features unique to the Stark effect. For instance, the wave functions can be separated into distinct sums over even and odd values of the principal quantum number. These even and odd superpositions interfere in different ways, which results in unexpected periodicities in the interferograms of Stark wave packets.