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arXiv:2602.19824 · Physical Review A

High-resolution spectroscopy of 162Dy Rydberg levels

G. Ferioli, P. Lombardi, P. Sekhar, E. Sole Cardona, N. Preti, C. Drevon, N. Antolini, L. Tanzi, G. Modugno, C. Gabbanini, F. Robicheaux, A. Fioretti

physics.atom-phcond-mat.quant-gasquant-phSubmitted Feb 23, 2026• Announced Feb 24, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Highly excited Rydberg states of lanthanides are a promising, yet largely unexplored, playground for quantum studies. Here, we report on the first high-resolution spectroscopy of 162Dy obtained by two-color trap depletion spectroscopy in a magneto-optical trap. The absolute excitation frequency of over 700 states with effective principal quantum number n between 21 and 130 is measured with an accuracy of 20 MHz. Most states are assigned to the 8 different series converging to the first 4f10(5I8)6s(2S1/2) J = 17/2 ionization potential. This energy is measured at EIP = 47901.8265 +/- 0.0008 cm-1, improving the precision of the literature value by over an order of magnitude. A multichannel quantum defect theory approach is used to benchmark and refine the assignments and to characterize six observed perturbing states belonging to higher ionization limits. These results pave the way for using dysprosium in Rydberg-based quantum architectures, leveraging the unique properties arising from its complex electronic structure. They also represent a compelling benchmark for ab-initio calculations of open-shell atomic systems.

Journal reference
Phys. Rev. A 113, 062807 (2026)
DOI
10.1103/h4q7-6t3s
Comments
12 pages, 5 figures

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Highly excited Rydberg states of lanthanides are a promising, yet largely unexplored, playground for quantum studies. Here, we report on the first high-resolution spectroscopy of 162Dy obtained by two-color trap depletion spectroscopy in a magneto-optical trap. The absolute excitation frequency of over 700 states with effective principal quantum number n between 21 and 130 is measured with an accuracy of 20 MHz. Most states are assigned to the 8 different series converging to the first 4f10(5I8)6s(2S1/2) J = 17/2 ionization potential. This energy is measured at EIP = 47901.8265 +/- 0.0008 cm-1, improving the precision of the literature value by over an order of magnitude. A multichannel quantum defect theory approach is used to benchmark and refine the assignments and to characterize six observed perturbing states belonging to higher ionization limits. These results pave the way for using dysprosium in Rydberg-based quantum architectures, leveraging the unique properties arising from its complex electronic structure. They also represent a compelling benchmark for ab-initio calculations of open-shell atomic systems.
We report measurements of the absolute excitation frequencies of 165Ho^{165}\mathrm{Ho}165Ho 4f116sns4{f}^{11}6sns4f116sns and 4f116snd4{f}^{11}6snd4f116snd odd-parity Rydberg series. The states are detected through depletion of a magneto-optical trap via a two-photon excitation scheme. Measurements of 162 Rydberg levels in the range n=40n=40n=40--101 yield quantum defects well described by the Rydberg-Ritz formula. We observe a strong perturbation in the nsnsns series around n=51n=51n=51 due to an unidentified interloper at 48515.47(4) ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. From the series convergence, we determine the first ionization potential EIP=48565.910(3){E}_{\mathrm{IP}}=48565.910(3)EIP​=48565.910(3) ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, which is three orders of magnitude more accurate than previous work. This work is an important step towards using Ho atoms for collective encoding of a quantum register.
We report on the atom loss spectroscopy of strontium Rydberg atoms in a magnetooptical trap, using a two-photon excitation scheme through the intermediate state 5s5p3P15s5p{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{3}{P}_{1}5s5p3P1​. Energies of the 5sns3S15sns{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{3}{S}_{1}5sns3S1​ and 5snd3D1,25snd{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{3}{D}_{1,2}5snd3D1,2​ Rydberg series of 88Sr^{88}\mathrm{Sr}88Sr in the range $13\ensuremath{\le}n\ensuremath{\le}50$ are determined with an absolute accuracy of 10 MHz, including the perturbed region where the 5snd3D25snd{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{3}{D}_{2}5snd3D2​ series couples to the 5snd1D25snd{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{1}{D}_{2}5snd1D2​ series. This represents an improvement by more than two orders of magnitude compared to previously published data. The quantum defects for each series are determined using the extended Rydberg-Ritz formula in the range where there is no strong perturbation. A value of 1377012721(10)MHz1\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}377\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}012\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}721(10)\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\text{MHz}1377012721(10)MHz for the first ionization limit of 88Sr^{88}\mathrm{Sr}88Sr is extracted.
The open inner-shell electronic structure of lanthanides with large magnetic moments gives rise to a rich spectrum of transitions available for laser cooling, trapping, and coherent control. Despite this, the large number of ultraviolet (UV) transitions below 400nm have so far been rarely utilized in dipolar atom experiments. Here, we investigate multiple UV ground state transitions in dysprosium. Several of these UV excited states have the largest decay strengths to the ultralong-lived, low-lying first excited state which are comparable to the most commonly used strongest transitions found in dipolar atoms. Using two-dimensional shelving spectroscopy which improves detection sensitivity and provides a straightforward way to determine the hyperfine-isotope structure and excited state total angular momentum JJJ, we measure isotope shifts, hyperfine coefficients, and create King plots to determine their electronic nature. Such knowledge of these UV transitions which analogously exist in other magnetic atoms is important for optically populating the first excited state and can be used towards creating an optical clock, high resolution imaging in quantum gas microscopy, and probing lanthanide nuclei with enhanced Schiff moments in search of physics beyond the standard model.
High Rydberg levels of ytterbium were studied in a beam of metastable atoms. Levels of the series 4f14^{14}14 6snsnsnd were populated from the metastable 4f14^{14}14 6s 6p 3^33Po_oo​ level by means of the U.V. light of a frequency-doubled single-mode dye laser and detected using the field ionization technique. The critical ionization fields FcF_cFc​ of the levels 4f14^{14}14 6snsnsnd 3^33D1_11​ (24 ≤ n ≤ 57) were measured and found to obey the saddle point law (FcF_cFc​ = (16 n∗4n^{*4}n∗4)−1^{-1}−1). The hyperfine structures of the odd isotopes were investigated. They are very peculiar due to the fact that the hyperfine interaction is of the same order of magnitude as (or even for the highest nnn values, much more important than) the spin-orbit and electrostatic interactions. A theoretical account of the observed structures using the Slater-Condon parametric method is given. The relative influence of the excited (nnnd) and of the non-excited (6s) optical electron could thus be studied. Furthermore the influence of a valence level perturbing only the odd isotopes components for nnn = 26 was demonstrated.
A complete set of spectroscopic data is indispensable when using Rydberg states of trapped ions for quantum information processing. We carried out Rydberg series spectroscopy for nS1/2n{S}_{1/2}nS1/2​ states with $38\ensuremath{\le}n\ensuremath{\le}65$ and for nD5/2n{D}_{5/2}nD5/2​ states with $37\ensuremath{\le}n\ensuremath{\le}50$ on a single trapped 40Ca+^{40}{\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}40Ca+ ion. We determined the ionization energy of 2 870 575.582(15) GHz, 60 times more accurately as compared to the accepted value and contradicting it by 7.5 standard deviations. We confirm quantum defect values of ${\ensuremath{\delta}}_{{S}_{1/2}}=1.802\text{ }995(5)$ and ${\ensuremath{\delta}}_{{D}_{5/2}}=0.626\text{ }888(9)$ for nS1/2n{S}_{1/2}nS1/2​ and nD5/2n{D}_{5/2}nD5/2​ states, respectively, which allow for unambiguous addressing of Rydberg levels of Ca+{\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}Ca+ ions. Our measurements confirm Rydberg ion scaling properties, e.g., for blackbody induced ionization, linewidths and excitation strengths.
Transitions between high Rydberg states of 133{}^{133}133Cs atoms have been studied by high-resolution millimeter-wave spectroscopy of an ultracold sample. The spectroscopic measurements were performed after releasing the atoms from a magneto-optical trap. Switching off all trapping fields and compensating the stray electric and magnetic fields to below 1 mV/cm and 2 mG, respectively, prior to the spectroscopic measurement enabled the recording of millimeter-wave spectra of Rydberg states with principal quantum number beyond n=100n=100n=100 under conditions where the inhomogeneous broadening by stray fields is minimal and no dephasing of the Rydberg-atom sample can be detected over measurement times up to 60 $\ensuremath{\mu}$s. The Fourier-transform-limited line widths of better than 20 kHz enabled the observation of the hyperfine structure of nSnSnS and nPnPnP Rydberg states of Cs beyond n=90n=90n=90. The analysis of the line shapes of transitions to Rydberg states with $n\ensuremath{\approx}230$ indicated that field inhomogeneities across the atomic sample represent the dominant cause of spectral broadening at high nnn values. The analysis also revealed that the initial polarization of the atomic sample (F=4F=4F=4, MF=4{M}_{F}=4MF​=4) is preserved for several tens of microseconds, the depolarization being caused by slow precession along the magnetic stray fields.