| Summary: | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University === PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. === The present work involves the study of a simplified atomic system to gain better understanding of controlling and manipulating Rydberg-like systems. Detailed simulations of the classical hydrogen atom have been carried out using, first, the nonrelativistic Lorentz-Dirac classical equation of motion for a charged point particle under the action of a Coulombic binding force, plus applied radiation, then progressing to include the effects of the classical electromagnetic zero-point (ZP) radiation spectrum. This work has been carried out under the guide of the theory called stochastic electrodynamics (SED). Many applications involving atoms in excited Rydberg states can be developed, based on the work described here, to aid in carefully controlled thin film deposition, ion implantation, etching, and sputtering in micro and nanoelectronics, as well as optical instrumentation related applications, via applied electromagnetic fields. The improved simulation code for the long-term numerical integration of non-linear differential equations for tracking particles, should be helpful for a number of other closely related areas. Specifically, investigations into astronomy, including the Kepler problem treated in satellite and planetary orbit simulations in celestial mechanics, as well as problems in such areas as atomic and molecular dynamic studies, may well find benefit from the investigations here.
As shown in the present study, very nonlinear behavior occurs for such Rydberg-like system, making a numerical study of the system nearly essential. Little of this work has been explored before in the literature. Resonances, rapid transitions, very long decay times, all influenced by applied radiation, are described and analyzed in detail here. Such results are expected to have significant bearing on recent experiments reported in the literature on "kicked Rydberg" atoms. Moreover, as reported here, the ZP field was included in very lengthy numerical simulations, resulting in a very close comparison with the ground state of hydrogen as predicted by Schrodinger's wave equation. This last result helps to support SED in general, although certainly considerable more work needs to be done for a full confirmation, but in the process this result greatly aids simulating situations where SED is expected to hold very well. === 2031-01-01
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