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Acta Physica Sinica

The transformation of ultra-cold Rydberg atom to plasma

Jianming Zhao, Linjie Zhang, Changyong Li, Jia Suo-Tang, 量子光学与光量子器件国家重点实验室,山西大学物理电子工程学院，太原 030006

Published Jan 1, 2008• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Ultra-cold Rydberg atoms are obtained using three-photon excitation in the Cs magneto-optical trap(MOT), and the signals of the plasma are measured through changing the interaction time. The spontaneous evolution and the ionization mechanism are investigated.
DOI
10.7498/aps.57.2895

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We have studied the development of gases of ultra-cold Rydberg atoms in Magneto Optic Traps, and discovered that such gases exhibit a range of density-dependent phenomena. In particular, we have found that at the densities of ∼ 10 7 cm -3 the Rydberg atoms spontaneously evolve into long-lived high angular momentum states. These states slowly decay due to microwave background radiation over tens of milliseconds. We have numerically simulated the effects leading to such behavior, and investigated numerically the l- and n-mixing collisions of Rydberg atoms with electrons in the range of 10 meV. These calculations show that the l- and n-mixing cross-sections follow the n 5 scaling law, expected from simple Stark map considerations, but also depend on the velocities of the colliding electrons, reflecting the adiabaticity of the atom-electron interactions. We have developed a novel technique of measuring the electric fields inside plasmas by using Rydberg excitation spectroscopy of embedded atoms, based on the disappearance of regions of zero oscillator strength in the presence of such fields. We have applied this technique to study the evolution of ultra-cold non-neutral plasmas excited from the MOT, and have found that it expands over 1 mus. We have simulated such an expansion by considering only Coulomb repulsion between the constituent ions, and have found that such a model is consistent with the experimental observations.
The spontaneous evolution from ultracold Rydberg atoms to plasma is investigated in a caesium MOT by using the method of field ionization. The plasma transferred from atoms in different Rydberg states ( n = 22-32) are obtained experimentally. Dependence of the threshold time of evolving to plasma and the threshold number of initial Rydberg atoms on the principal quantum number of initial Rydberg states is studied. The experimental results are in agreement with hot-cold Rydberg–Rydberg atom collision ionization theory.
The spontaneous evolution from Rydberg atoms in different fine states to plasmas is investigated. Two-photon excitation is used to excite ultracold cesium atoms from 6S1/2 to 47D3/2 and 47D5/2 Rydberg states, respectively. The ramp electric field is used to ionize the Rydberg atoms and drive the ions to the micro-channel plate detector. In this experiment, The atom number of 47D5/2 state, which has a high oscillator strength compared with 47D3/2, is about 7 times larger than that of 47D3/2 state. Based on the different initial atom numbers of two fine states, the evolutions of plasma and Rydberg atoms are observed. The initial ionization time of Rydberg atoms and avalanche ionization rate of different states are presented. The initial ionization of Rydberg atoms is ascribed to the combining effect of state transfer from repulsive interaction to attractive interaction induced by the blackbody radiation and superradiation and Rydberg atoms collision. Moreover, the avalanche ionization and production of plasma are explained as being due to the rapid collision between Rydberg atoms and electrons in a local potential trap produced by positive ions.
We have observed the spontaneous evolution of a dense sample of Rydberg atoms into an ultracold plasma, in spite of the fact that each of the atoms may initially be bound by up to 100 cm(-1). When the atoms are initially bound by 70 cm(-1), this evolution occurs when most of the atoms are translationally cold, <1 mK, but a small fraction, approximately 1%, is at room temperature. Ionizing collisions between hot and cold Rydberg atoms and blackbody photoionization produce an essentially stationary cloud of cold ions, which traps electrons produced later. The trapped electrons rapidly collisionally ionize the remaining cold Rydberg atoms to form a cold plasma.
Summary form only given. We report on recent experimental and theoretical investigations of highly excited atoms prepared from a dense atomic sample in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). The goals of the work are two-fold. First, by exciting atoms above the ionization potential (IP) we can study the properties of an ultracold plasma of electrons (T<1 K) and ions (T<1 mK). Second, tuning the excitation below the IP, we can populate high-lying Rydberg states whose atomic radii are comparable to the interparticle spacing, possibly spawning new collective phenomena. In our initial experiments we study Rydberg states. We collect 10/sup 7/ /sup 85/Rb atoms in the MOT at a density of 10/sup 10//cm/sup 3/. Atoms in the 5s ground state are excited into Rydberg states using single photon excitation.