Interference stabilization of Rydberg atoms enhanced by multiple V-type resonances

We introduce a model of laser pulse ionization of a high Rydberg state whose core is a chain of coupled V-type transitions with exact resonance in each arm of the V. Through this chain the population is allowed to migrate resonantly from the initial state of low angular momentum to other bound states of higher angular momenta, both of low and high energy. Along with the redistribution of the initial population over different bound states, we discuss the effect of the redistribution on atomic stabilization, exploiting an analytical solution of the model that holds in a limiting case. The resonant migration mentioned is shown to be able to enhance atomic stabilization against ionization by an optical-frequency pulse. [S1050-2947(98)02910-2].