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arXiv:1507.02427 · Physical Review A

All-optical measurement of Rydberg-state lifetimes

Markus Mack, Jens Grimmel, Florian Karlewski, L. Sárkány, H. Hattermann, József Fortágh

Published Jul 24, 2015• 29 citations
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Abstract

We have developed an all-optical method for measuring the lifetimes of $nS$ and $nD$ Rydberg states and demonstrate its capabilities with measurements on a dilute cloud of ultracold $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms in a cryogenic environment. The method is based on the time-resolved observation of resonant light absorption by ground-state atoms and selective transfer of Rydberg atoms into the ground state at varying delay times in order to reconstruct Rydberg decay curves. Our measurements of the $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ $30{S}_{1/2}$ state indicate an increase of the lifetime at lowered environment temperatures, as expected due to decreased blackbody radiation. For the $38{D}_{5/2}$ state with an attractive dipole-dipole interaction, ionization and lifetime reduction due to collisional effects are observed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.92.012517

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We have developed an all-optical method for measuring the lifetimes of nSnSnS and nDnDnD Rydberg states and demonstrate its capabilities with measurements on a dilute cloud of ultracold 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms in a cryogenic environment. The method is based on the time-resolved observation of resonant light absorption by ground-state atoms and selective transfer of Rydberg atoms into the ground state at varying delay times in order to reconstruct Rydberg decay curves. Our measurements of the 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb 30S1/230{S}_{1/2}30S1/2​ state indicate an increase of the lifetime at lowered environment temperatures, as expected due to decreased blackbody radiation. For the 38D5/238{D}_{5/2}38D5/2​ state with an attractive dipole-dipole interaction, ionization and lifetime reduction due to collisional effects are observed.
We demonstrate one simplified all-optical method to measure the radiative lifetime of ultracold cesium (Cs) Rydberg atoms. This method is based on photodetection of one ground state atomic absorption in a ladder-type electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT), which contains one ground state, one intermediate state, and one Rydberg state. In the presence and absence of optical pumping between the Rydberg state and the intermediate state, the absorption difference with varying delay time can reconstruct the population evolution of target Rydberg atoms. By using this method, the radiative lifetimes of 50 S 1 / 2 and 50 D 5 / 2 of Cs atoms are measured to be 53 ( 9 ) µ s and 42 ( 9 ) µ s , respectively, which are consistent with theoretical calculations. The agreements show the reliability of our presented method, which can provide a route for researching light–matter interaction behavior without the need to quantify absorption characteristic.
We present an all-optical protocol for detecting population in a selected Rydberg state of alkali-metal atoms. The detection scheme is based on the interaction of an ensemble of ultracold atoms with two laser pulses: one weak probe pulse which is resonant with the transition between the ground state and the first excited state, and a pulse with high intensity which couples the first excited state to the selected Rydberg state. We show that by monitoring the absorption signal of the probe laser over time, one can deduce the initial population of the Rydberg state. Furthermore, it is shown that---for suitable experimental conditions---the dynamical absorption curve contains information on the initial coherence between the ground state and the selected Rydberg state. We present the results of a proof-of-principle measurement performed on a cold gas of 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms. The method is expected to find application in quantum computing protocols based on Rydberg atoms.
We demonstrate a hybrid method based on field ionization and state-selective deexcitation capable of measuring the lifetimes of high-lying Rydberg levels. For nSnSnS Rydberg states of Rb atoms with principal quantum number $60\ensuremath{\le}n\ensuremath{\le}88$, we measure both the lifetimes of single target states and those of the ensembles of Rydberg states populated via blackbody-radiation-induced transitions. We find good overall agreement with numerical calculations of the expected lifetimes in both cases. However, for the target-state lifetimes, we find a local deviation towards shorter lifetimes for states around n=72n=72n=72, which we interpret as a signature of a modified blackbody spectrum in the finite volume in which our experiments take place.
The lifetimes of nS1/2 and nD5/2 (n = 60–83) cesium Rydberg states are measured accurately in a magneto-optical trap using the field ionization technique and analyzed with the existing theoretical model. The room temperature blackbody radiation (BBR) and interaction between Rydberg atoms can enhance the decay rate and reduce the spontaneous lifetime of the given Rydberg atom. The measured lifetime shows a good agreement with the calculation accounting a room temperature BBR at low enough Rydberg atomic density. The dependence of measured lifetime on atomic density shows that the collision and interaction between Rydberg atoms have a large effect on the lifetime at higher Rydberg atomic density. The scaling laws of n2.55±0.02 for nD5/2 state and n2.30±0.01 for nS1/2 state within n = 60–83 range are obtained and agreement with the model calculation with a relative deviation less than 3%.
We measure the total collisional cross-sections of caesium Rydberg nD ( n =37–40) states by measuring the corresponding effective decay rates versus Rydberg atoms density in a conventional magneto-optical trap using the state-selective pulse field ionization technique. The results indicate that the large collisional cross-sections mainly come from the contribution of Rydberg atoms interactions. We also obtain the spontaneous radiative lifetimes of different Rydberg states by fitting experimental data, which are in agreement with the existing theoretical values within experimental error.
We report on the realization of a 133^{133}133Cs optical tweezer array in a cryogenic blackbody radiation (BBR) environment. By enclosing the array within a 4K radiation shield, we measure long Rydberg lifetimes, up to 406(36) μ406 (36)\,μ406(36)μs for the 55P3/255 P_{3/2}55P3/2​ Rydberg state, a factor of 3.3(3) longer than the room-temperature value. We employ single-photon coupling for coherent manipulation of the ground-Rydberg qubit. We measure a small differential dynamic polarizability of the transition, beneficial for reducing dephasing due to light intensity fluctuations. Our results pave the path for advancing neutral-atom two-qubit gate fidelities as their error budgets become increasingly dominated by T1T_1T1​ relaxation of the ground-Rydberg qubit.