Optical polarizability of alkali metal atoms in the quantum defect approximation

Türker Topçu, Andrei Derevianko

D. Cho

Richard R. Freeman, Daniel Kleppner

We discuss the systematics of energy levels of high-angular-momentum Rydberg states of alkali-metal atoms, and show that they are well described by a quantum-defect model. Polarization of the core electrons by the valence electron is shown to be the dominant contribution to the quantum defect. As an example, recently observed splittings between the $l=3,4,\mathrm{and} 5$ levels in various Rydberg states of sodium are analyzed to yield values for the core polarizabilities. Effective values of the dipole and quadrupole polarizability of 1.0015(15) and 0.48(15) a.u., respectively, are obtained. Implications for the precise determination of the structure of highly excited Rydberg states in alkali atoms are discussed.

Ivan Hromada, William F. Holmgren, Raisa Trubko +1 more

Marianna S. Safronova, Bindiya Arora, Charles W. Clark

We present results of first-principles calculations of the frequency-dependent polarizabilities of all alkali-metal atoms for light in the wavelength range 300--1600 nm, with particular attention to wavelengths of common infrared lasers. We parametrize our results so that they can be extended accurately to arbitrary wavelengths above 800 nm. This work is motivated by recent experiments involving simultaneous optical trapping of two different alkali-metal species. Our data can be used to predict the oscillation frequencies of optically trapped atoms, and particularly the ratios of frequencies of different species held in the same trap. We identify wavelengths at which two different alkali-metal atoms have the same oscillation frequency.

E. I. Dashevskaya