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Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference

Using cold trapped atoms to determine lifetime of a Rydberg sequence

A.L. de Oliveira, M.W. Mancini, Vanderlei Salvador Bagnato, Luís Gustavo Marcassa

Published Jun 25, 2003• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Summary form only given. Measurements of Rydberg states lifetime are a powerful test for calculations involving many-body problems and alkali atoms, and have been used as prototypes for such a study. Cold trapped atoms provide an interesting sample to investigate high excited states lifetime with great advantage compared to traditional atomic beam techniques. Effects on measured lifetimes of the excited atoms such as superradiance and collisions may be controlled and even suppressed by using cold atoms held in a trap. In this work we measured the lifetime of a sequence of states S, P and D as a function of the principal quantum number (n). These highly excited states have remarkable properties due to their weakly bound outer electron energies and their electron's large orbit radius. Due to the very weak binding energies, these states tend to be very sensitive to perturbations, such as external electric fields that are used to detect atoms in these states.

DOI
10.1109/qels.2002.1031163

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Summary form only given. Measurements of Rydberg states lifetime are a powerful test for calculations involving many-body problems and alkali atoms, and have been used as prototypes for such a study. Cold trapped atoms provide an interesting sample to investigate high excited states lifetime with great advantage compared to traditional atomic beam techniques. Effects on measured lifetimes of the excited atoms such as superradiance and collisions may be controlled and even suppressed by using cold atoms held in a trap. In this work we measured the lifetime of a sequence of states S, P and D as a function of the principal quantum number (n). These highly excited states have remarkable properties due to their weakly bound outer electron energies and their electron's large orbit radius. Due to the very weak binding energies, these states tend to be very sensitive to perturbations, such as external electric fields that are used to detect atoms in these states.
In this paper, I review some recent high-precision Rydberg state lifetime measurements using a cold-trapped sample of neutral atoms held in a magneto-optical trap. The measurements were performed in rubidium for the S, P and D states varying the principal quantum number from n =26 to 45 using the field ionization technique. The experimental results were compared with quantum mechanical calculations and good agreement was observed. This is an important demonstration of how cold atomic samples can be used to perform high-precision spectroscopy in the time domain.
In this paper, we demonstrate the use of a cold trapped sample of neutral atoms to perform high-precision measurement of the lifetime for a sequence of Rydberg states of 85Rb.{}^{85}\mathrm{Rb}.85Rb. States of principal quantum number lying between n=31n=31n=31 and n=45n=45n=45 are produced and their lifetimes measured using field ionization. Experimental results are compared with existing theories. This is an important demonstration concerning the possibilities of high-precision spectroscopy in the time domain using cold atomic samples.
In this dissertation I investigate cold Rydberg atoms and molecules in which the angular-momentum character of the quantum states involved strongly influences their properties and dynamics. In the first part I focus on long-range diatomic Rydberg molecules formed by a rubidium D-state Rydberg atom and a second rubidium atom in its ground state. Spectroscopic measurements of molecular binding energies are presented showing the effect of the Rydberg atom size and fine-structure coupling on the molecular potentials. A theoretical model is introduced that takes into account all relevant angular-momentum couplings between the molecular constituents, successfully reproducing experimental observations. Calculations of adiabatic potentials and binding energies, molecular-state lifetimes, electric and magnetic dipole moments are also presented. In the second part, I describe the production and magnetic trapping of cold circular Rydberg atoms. The circular Rydberg atoms are generated out of a cold gas of rubidium using the crossed-fields method and magnetically trapped. The trapping force is employed to induce center-of-mass oscillations of the trapped atom sample. Trap parameters and observed oscillation frequencies are used to measure the magnetic moments of the circular Rydberg atoms. Trap losses and the atomic internal-state evolution in the 300 Kelvin thermal background are also investigated.
Systems of cold, interacting Rydberg atoms are of interest because they exhibit a wide range of collective quantum phenomena. This thesis describes experimental and theoretical work related to these systems with an emphasis on two phenomena: Rydberg excitation blockades and quantum-state-changing collisions. I begin by presenting a detailed calculation of the interaction energies of two Rydberg atoms for a variety of orientations, quantum states, and applied electric fields. The calculated energies are used to interpret the experimental results that follow. I then describe measurements showing that the widths of the distributions of Rydberg excitation number are related to the effectiveness of a Rydberg excitation blockade. These distributions are investigated as a function of principal quantum number, n, and applied electric field. In the presence of a Forster resonant field, sub-Poissonian distributions are measured. I next present a spectroscopic measurement of the energy level shift of a system of atoms which collectively shares two Rydberg excitations. The qualitative nature of the shift depends sensitively on the type of interactions between the atoms (van der Waals or dipole-dipole) and may be changed by changing the quantum state or applied electric field. This measurement provides the first spectroscopic proof that Rydberg excitation blockades are operative. Finally, I describe measurements of the probability for quantum state-changing and Penning-ionizing collisions to provide evidence for intrinsic, electric field-free-interaction resonances and complex many-body interactions in systems of cold Rydberg atoms.
This paper reports on the results of experiments with cold rubidium Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap. The specific feature of the experiments is the excitation of Rydberg atoms in a small volume within a cloud of cold atoms and the sorting of measured signals and spectra according to the number of detected Rydberg atoms. The effective lifetime of the 37 P Rydberg state and its polarizability in a weak electric field are measured. The results obtained are in good agreement with theoretical calculations. It is demonstrated that the localization of the excitation volume in the vicinity of the zero-magnetic-field point makes it possible to improve the spectral resolution and to obtain narrow microwave resonances in Rydberg atoms without switching off the quadrupole magnetic field of the trap. The dependence of the amplitude of dipole-dipole interaction resonances in Rydberg atoms on the number of atoms is measured. This dependence exhibits a linear behavior and agrees with the theory for a weak dipole-dipole interaction.
Summary form only given. In the late 1990s the idea of using trapped neutral atoms to produce cold Rydberg atoms has drawn special attention. Conventional techniques to study Rydberg atoms using thermal atoms have limitations imposed by velocity dependent and collisional effects. With the advent of the magneto-optical trap (MOT) cold samples of Rydberg atoms, which are naturally Doppler-free, can now be produced. In this work we present the measurement of /sup 80/Rb 27D Rydberg state by field ionization using trapped atoms.