Quantum mechanics and atomic, molecular, optical (AMO) physics have been widely studied in the past century. This dissertation covers several topics in the field of AMO physics that were the focus of my Ph.D. studies, both theoretical and computational.<div><br></div><div>The first topic is related to trapping of Rydberg atoms inside an optical trap. The study focuses on the trapping energy and state mixing of Rydberg atoms based on different angular momentum state and spin-orbit coupling of the Rydberg electron. </div><div><br></div><div>The second topic is the two-electron correlations in an atom, especially double Rydberg wave packets. We have focused on the rapid autoionization and angular momentum exchanges between the double Rydberg wave packets. Then, the study of two-electron correlation is extended to the post-collision interaction (PCI) in Auger decay and a sequential ionization model. Quantum interference patterns can be found in the final correlated distributions. In the PCI study, quantum calculations and semiclassical calculations are performed to interpret the interference patterns. </div><div><br></div><div>The last topic is the ionization behavior of one-electron Rydberg atoms from a terahertz single-cycle pulse. We investigate and compare the different ionization probabilities of a Rydberg electron from an initial stationary state and a wave packet. Also, studies of the ionization behavior are extended to scaled parameters, where all physical parameters of the electron and field pulses are scaled.</div>

<p>Despite the unprecedented success achieved by Kohn-Sham density functional theory (KS-DFT) in the past few decades, the standard approximations used for the KS exchange-correlation functional typically lead to unacceptably large errors when applied to strongly-correlated electronic systems. Partition-DFT (P-DFT) is a formally exact reformulation of KS-DFT in which the ground-state density and energy of a system are obtained through self-consistent calculations on isolated fragments, with a partition energy introduced to account for the inter-fragment interactions. The unique advantage of this partitioning scheme lies in the fact that it adopts the electron density of fragments as the main variable, in place of the density of the entire system in KS-DFT, so that novel approximations can be constructed in terms of fragment properties. With a simple overlap approximation (OA) of the partition energy proposed for binary-partitioned systems, P-DFT is able to rectify the static correlation error caused by standard density functional approximations for strongly-correlated diatomic molecules. In this work, we first implement P-DFT on a one-dimensional (1D) real-space grid and calculate the ground-state energy and density of a series of 1D hydrogen chains using the local density approximation (LDA) as the density functional approximation for fragments. We then propose the generalized overlap approximation (GOA) and the corrected generalized overlap approximation (cGOA), which extends the applicability of OA to systems partitioned into more than two fragments. Combining LDA with cGOA leads to quantitatively correct dissociation curves of hydrogen chains. The static correlation error of LDA is suppressed by cGOA in the strongly-correlation regime when the calculations are performed in a spin-restricted manner, i.e., without the spin symmetry breaking. Additionally, GOA induces an improvement of the ground-state density upon LDA results, and hence helps P-DFT provide a better description of the density dimerization in hydrogen chains.</p>

In this work a systematic method for determining correlated wavefunctions of extended systems in the ground state as well as in excited states is presented. It allows to fully exploit the power of quantum-chemical programs designed for correlation calculations of finite molecules. Using localized Hartree-Fock (HF) orbitals (both occupied and virtual ones), an effective Hamiltonian which can easily be transferred from finite to infinite systems is built up. Correlation corrections to the matrix elements of the effective Hamiltonian are derived from clusters using an incremental scheme. To treat the correlation effects, multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) calculations with singly and doubly excited configurations (SD) are performed. This way one is able to generate both valence and conduction bands where all correlation effects in the excited states as well as in the ground state of the system are taken into account. An appropriate size-extensivity correction to the MRCI(SD) correlation energies is developed which takes into account the open-shell character of the excited states. This approach is applicable to a wide range of polymers and crystals. In the present work trans-polyacetylene is chosen as a test system. The corresponding band structure is obtained with the correlation of all electrons in the system being included on a very high level of sophistication. The account of correlation effects leads to substantial shifts of the &amp;quot;center-of-mass&amp;quot; positions of the bands (valence bands are shifted upwards and conduction bands downwards) and a flattening of all bands compared to the corresponding HF band structure. The method reaches the quantum-chemical level of accuracy. Further an extention of the above approach to excitons (optical excitations) in crystals is developed which allows to use standard quantum-chemical methods to describe the electron-hole pairs and to finally obtain excitonic bands.

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In this work a systematic method for determining correlated wavefunctions of extended systems in the ground state as well as in excited states is presented. It allows to fully exploit the power of quantum-chemical programs designed for correlation calculations of finite molecules. Using localized Hartree-Fock (HF) orbitals (both occupied and virtual ones), an effective Hamiltonian which can easily be transferred from finite to infinite systems is built up. Correlation corrections to the matrix elements of the effective Hamiltonian are derived from clusters using an incremental scheme. To treat the correlation effects, multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) calculations with singly and doubly excited configurations (SD) are performed. This way one is able to generate both valence and conduction bands where all correlation effects in the excited states as well as in the ground state of the system are taken into account. An appropriate size-extensivity correction to the MRCI(SD) correlation energies is developed which takes into account the open-shell character of the excited states. This approach is applicable to a wide range of polymers and crystals. In the present work trans-polyacetylene is chosen as a test system. The corresponding band structure is obtained with the correlation of all electrons in the system being included on a very high level of sophistication. The account of correlation effects leads to substantial shifts of the &amp;quot;center-of-mass&amp;quot; positions of the bands (valence bands are shifted upwards and conduction bands downwards) and a flattening of all bands compared to the corresponding HF band structure. The method reaches the quantum-chemical level of accuracy. Further an extention of the above approach to excitons (optical excitations) in crystals is developed which allows to use standard quantum-chemical methods to describe the electron-hole pairs and to finally obtain excitonic bands.

High harmonic generation (HHG) is an extreme non-linear phenomenon where strong laser fields interact with a medium to produce coherent and high-frequency harmonics of the incident light. It has emerged as a rapidly growing research area in bulk materials since its first observation in ZnO crystals in 2011. Over the past decade, pioneering studies have already been made in understanding the details of the microscopic mechanism behind this phenomenon, like the role of intra- and inter-band transitions, the contribution of the modulus and the phase of the dipole moment to even and odd harmonic peaks, the role of the oscillating dipoles, effects of broken symmetry, etc. However, the role of electron-electron correlations in the HHG from strongly correlated materials is much less understood. In these materials the interactions between electrons play a significant role, leading to complex and intriguing physical behaviors. In this dissertation, on the example of ZnO, perovskites BaTiO3 and BiFeO3, and transition-metal oxide VO2 I will study the role of electron-electron interaction effects in the HH spectra by using the time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) approach with the exchange-correlation kernel obtained with dynamical mean- field theory (DMFT). In DMFT, one takes into account time-resolved on-site electron-electron interactions (neglected in most of other approaches) that are crucial for a larger part of strongly correlated materials. As I demonstrate, correlation effects significantly modify the HH spectrum, e.g., through the ultrafast modification of the spectrum of the system, as it was found for ZnO. As the next step, I explored the effects of electron-electron correlations in the HH spectrum of BaTiO3 perturbed by intense, few-cycle mid-infrared laser excitations. The correlation effects in this system lead to the emergence of "super-harmonics" - periodic enhancements and suppressions of specific harmonic orders that depend on the correlation strength. I extended my analysis to the case of BiFeO3, where in addition to correlation effects the effects of memory in HHG were analyzed. I have found that both correlation effects and memory lead to an extension of the harmonic cutoff. In my final part, I explored the effect of electron correlations on the HH spectrum of VO2 and compared my findings with the experiment. The obtained results may shed light on the often important role of electron correlations in the HH spectra of solids, providing valuable insights into ultrafast dynamics in complex materials, and contributing to advancements in nonlinear optics and strong-field physics, with the potential for novel photonic devices and imaging techniques in the attosecond and femtosecond regimes.

<p>The concept of the transfer Hamiltonian formalism has been reconsidered and generalized to include the non-orthogonality between the electron states in an interacting region, e.g. quantum dot (QD), and the states in the conduction bands in the attached contacts. The electron correlations in the QD are described by means of a diagram technique for Hubbard operator Green functions for non-equilibrium states. </p><p>It is shown that the non-orthogonality between the electrons states in the contacts and the QD is reflected in the anti-commutation relations for the field operators of the subsystems. The derived forumla for the current contains corrections from the overlap of the same order as the widely used conventional tunneling coefficients. </p><p>It is also shown that kinematic interactions between the QD states and the electrons in the contacts, renormalizes the QD energies in a spin-dependent fashion. The structure of the renormalization provides an opportunity to include a spin splitting of the QD levels by polarizing the conduction bands in the contacts and/or imposing different hybridizations between the states in the contacts and the QD for the two spin channels. This leads to a substantial amplification of the spin polarization in the current, suggesting applications in magnetic sensors and spin-filters.</p>

The concept of the transfer Hamiltonian formalism has been reconsidered and generalized to include the non-orthogonality between the electron states in an interacting region, e.g. quantum dot (QD), and the states in the conduction bands in the attached contacts. The electron correlations in the QD are described by means of a diagram technique for Hubbard operator Green functions for non-equilibrium states. It is shown that the non-orthogonality between the electrons states in the contacts and the QD is reflected in the anti-commutation relations for the field operators of the subsystems. The derived forumla for the current contains corrections from the overlap of the same order as the widely used conventional tunneling coefficients. It is also shown that kinematic interactions between the QD states and the electrons in the contacts, renormalizes the QD energies in a spin-dependent fashion. The structure of the renormalization provides an opportunity to include a spin splitting of the QD levels by polarizing the conduction bands in the contacts and/or imposing different hybridizations between the states in the contacts and the QD for the two spin channels. This leads to a substantial amplification of the spin polarization in the current, suggesting applications in magnetic sensors and spin-filters.