How do I subject electrical & photon energy to achieve resonance in a group of hydrogen atoms?

Question

I am wanting to build a device which will subject a group of hydrogen atoms to a high voltage pulsed field which will also include photon energy to acheive resonance and ionize the hydrogen atoms...I know this has been done before, and so I know it's easily possible.....Where do I learn more about doing this and what kind of light energy and electrical frequencies I will need to make it happen!!!

Answer 1

So the ground state energy level in hydrogen is 13.6 eV. So you need 13.6eV photons to directly ionize it. If you have high intensity you can use multiphoton ionization, but that requires high intensity, like from a laser. If you just want to ionize it you can have a tube of hydrogen and hammer it with a high voltge pulse, like from a marx generator or something.

Read up on DC discharges, Pashen curve for hydrogen. This should get you started. you might try the website 4hv.org.