Source of metastable H(2s) atoms using the Stark chirped rapid-adiabatic-passage technique

We propose the use of Stark chirped rapid-adiabatic-passage method, a technique in which the energy of a target state is swept through resonance by a slowly varying dynamic Stark shift to induce complete population transfer from the ground 1s state to the metastable 2s state of the hydrogen atom. Parasitic ionization processes are strongly reduced by using a two-color excitation scheme. Our detailed numerical calculations show that under judicious choice of pulse parameters, up to 98% of the population can be found in the 2s state at the end of the process. [S1050-2947(99)51112-8].