Spectroscopy of Rydberg Atoms in a Black-body Radiation field: Ionisation Rates and Effective Lifetimes

Abstract

Abstract The combined relativistic energy approach and relativistic many-body perturbation theory, with a zeroth order approximation density functional theory, are used to calculate the ionisation rates and effective lifetimes values for Rydberg atoms in a black-body radiation field. Calculations for the rubidium atom in Rydberg states with principal quantum number n > 26 are presented and compared with available theoretical and experimental data.