Coherent electron emission from Rydberg atoms

We discuss the dynamics of an electron that is temporarily bound inside an atomic and static field potential. The dynamics is initiated by a pulsed laser that perturbatively drives an alkali atom from its ground state into a wave packet. The energy of the wave packet is above the classical ionization threshold in the field but below the zero field threshold. Experimentally this system is probed by measuring the time dependent flux of electrons that are ejected from the atom using an electron streak camera. Classical, WKB and fully quantum calculations are performed to aid our understanding of this system.