ROVIBRATIONAL AND ROTATIONAL AUTOIONIZATION DYNAMICS OF RYDBERG ELECTRON WAVEPACKETS IN H-2 - A TIME-DEPENDENT MULTICHANNEL QUANTUM-DEFECT THEORY APPROACH

The rovibrational and rotational autoionization dynamics of a Rydberg electron wavepacket in para-H-2 has been investigated using time-depen dent multichannel quantum-defect theory (MQDT). In the case of rovibra tional autoionization, rotational channel interactions are shown to in troduce a phase shift to the electron wavepacket proportional to the s trength of the configuration interaction. In the case of pure rotation al autoionization, the electron wavepacket is observed to remain trapp ed in the Coulombic potential of the rotating molecule following rotat ional relaxation, thus increasing the autoionization lifetime. (C) 199 7 American Institute of Physics.