Vibrationally autoionizing electron wave packets in a combined Coulombic and electric field

The optical Ramsey method is employed to investigate molecular electron wave-pocket dynamics in the angular coordinate. Time-resolved spectra are presented for vibrationally autoionizing Rydberg electron wave packets with principal quantum numbers n=17-21, excited between the v(+)=0 and v(+)=1 ionization limits, in the presence of electric fields in the range 0.7-1.4 kV cm(-1). A regular, almost dispersion-free beating in the angular coordinate is observed for wave packets created using light which is polarized perpendicular to the direction of the external de electric field. [S1050-2947(99)07512-5].