EXTRACTING CLASSICAL TRAJECTORIES FROM ATOMIC SPECTRA

We describe how to reconstruct individual classical trajectories from spectroscopic data. The ac dipole moment of a trajectory can be found from the effect of an oscillating field on the spectrum. The inverse F ourier transform of such data yields the component of the electron tra jectory along the direction of the oscillating field. We demonstrate t he method by experimentally extracting z(t) for two electron trajector ies that influence the Start; spectrum of Rydberg lithium. Within the experimental resolution, the reconstructed orbits agree well with clas sical predictions.