Observation of Autoionization Suppression through Coherent Population Trapping

Abstract

The strong electromagnetic coupling of two autoionizing states is experimentally investigated for the first time and is shown to lead to coherent population trapping resulting in a reduction of the ionization. The experimental observation of partial stabilization is supported by a theoretical analysis which reproduces the modification of the Fano profiles and indicates that the strong coupling of the two states leads to the trapping of the population in the ground state of the atom.