| We study the formation of negative alkali ions from Rydberg atoms in the presence of an electromagnetic field. The radiation field can drive a Rydberg electron to a surrounding ground state atom producing either free ions or bound ion pairs. We explore which final states of the ions yield to the optimal transition rate for a given initial state of the Rydberg atom. The interactions between the Rydberg electron and surrounding ground state atoms are important since they modify the Rydberg wave function in the vicinity of the perturbers and thus alter the transition matrix element for this charge transfer. |
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