Modeling and simulation of two-step resonance ionization processes using CW and pulsed lasers

This thesis derives and discusses equations that describe the evolution of atomic systems subjected to two monochromatic and coherent radiation fields and treats both continuous and temporally pulsed irradiation. This theoretical description is de- veloped mainly to understand the influence of the photon field intensities on experimental ionization spectra. The primary ap- plication of this theoretical framework is on methods that rely on resonant laser excitation and non-resonant laser ionization to extract information on the hyperfine structure of atomic systems. In particular, qualitative and quantitative discussions on the laser-related changes in hyperfine splitting extracted from ion- ization spectra are presented. Also, a method for increasing the resolution of resonance ionization techniques (potentially up un- til the natural linewidth of the electronic transitions) is discussed and theoretically justified. Both topics are illustrated with exper- imental data.