The dynamical properties of a Rydberg hydrogen atom between two parallel metal surfaces

This paper presents the dynamical properties of a Rydberg hydrogen atom between two metal surfaces using phase space analysis methods. The dynamical behaviour of the excited hydrogen atom depends sensitively on the atom–surface distance d. There exists a critical atom–surface distance d_c = 1586 a.u. When the atom–surface distance d is larger than the critical distance d_c, the image charge potential is less important than the Coulomb potential, the system is near-integrable and the electron motion is regular. As the distance d decreases, the system will tend to be non-integrable and unstable, and the electron might be captured by the metal surfaces.