Theory of laser-induced two-step electron-ion recombination

A theoretical framework for the quantitative interpretation of laser-induced electron-ion recombination is presented in terms of the density matrix taking into account stochastic bandwidth and pulse duration of the laser. The theory deals with recombination induced from the continuum into one group of states by one laser and further stabilized into a lower group of states by a second laser. Rate equations are then derived from the complete density matrix, and the conditions for their validity are discussed. Both density matrix and rate equations are applied to the interpretation of a recent experiment with equally good agreement.