  Results of theoretical calculations of ionization rates of Rb and Na Rydberg
atoms by blackbody radiation (BBR) are presented. Calculations have been
performed for nS, nP and nD states of Na and Rb, which are commonly used in a
variety of experiments, at principal quantum numbers n=8-65 and at three
ambient temperatures of 77, 300 and 600 K. A peculiarity of our calculations is
that we take into account the contributions of BBR-induced redistribution of
population between Rydberg states prior to photoionization and field ionization
by extraction electric field pulses. The obtained results show that these
phenomena affect both the magnitude of measured ionization rates and shapes of
their dependencies on n. The calculated ionization rates are compared with the
results of our earlier measurements of BBR-induced ionization rates of Na nS
and nD Rydberg states with n=8-20 at 300 K. A good agreement for all states
except nS with n>15 is observed. We also present the useful analytical formulae
for quick estimation of BBR ionization rates of Rydberg atoms.
