Dielectronic Recombination, Autoionization and Non-Adiabatic Core Polarization of Rydberg Two-Electron Atoms

In this dissertation, I study the structure and dynamics of Rydberg two-electron atoms. Specifically, I study the core polarization effect of the Rydberg electron on the ground state ion of strontium and the autoionization of barium atoms in an external static field in the low field regime. The autoionization studies show that it is possible to measure the contribution to dielectronic recombination (DR) of energetically unresolved high l states by measuring the recombination rate as a function of electric field. I also present the experimental observation that the ejected electrons from autoionizing states in an electric field have a directional preference that depends on the orientation of the Rydberg Stark state wavefunctions. Finally, I present the spectroscopy of the Stark autoionizing states in the low field regime using a high resolution dye-amplified diode laser.

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