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Physical Review A

Fine structure in a strong magnetic field: Paschen-Back effect reconsidered in Rydberg atoms

Wenyu Liu, Sihong Gu, Baiwen Li

Published May 1, 1996• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Using a kind of potential model wave function for alkali metal atoms, we nonperturbatively study the effect of fine structure on the Rydberg spectra of Cs atom in a strong magnetic field. Our numerical results reveal spectral structure dramatically different from the well-established Paschen-Back effect, and we argue that the fine structure of the Rydberg Cs atom cannot be neglected even in a magnetic field as strong as several teslas. We also give an error estimate of our results and a word on possible experimental verification. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.53.3044

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Using a kind of potential model wave function for alkali metal atoms, we nonperturbatively study the effect of fine structure on the Rydberg spectra of Cs atom in a strong magnetic field. Our numerical results reveal spectral structure dramatically different from the well-established Paschen-Back effect, and we argue that the fine structure of the Rydberg Cs atom cannot be neglected even in a magnetic field as strong as several teslas. We also give an error estimate of our results and a word on possible experimental verification. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
We report on rubidium vapor-cell Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a 0.7~T magnetic field where all involved levels are in the hyperfine Paschen-Back regime, and the Rydberg state exhibits a strong diamagnetic interaction with the magnetic field. Signals from both 85Rb^{85}\mathrm{Rb}85Rb and 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb are present in the EIT spectra. This feature of isotope-mixed Rb cells allows us to measure the field strength to within a ±0.12\pm 0.12±0.12\% relative uncertainty. The measured spectra are in excellent agreement with the results of a Monte Carlo calculation and indicate unexpectedly large Rydberg-level dephasing rates. Line shifts and broadenings due to small inhomogeneities of the magnetic field are included in the model.
Using the numerical techniques that have been successful in elucidating the low-lying part of the level scheme of atoms in magnetic fields pertaining to white dwarf stars and neutron stars, we have computed the energies and wave functions of ``circular'' Rydberg states (i.e., with \ensuremath{\Vert}m\ensuremath{\Vert}=n-1) with \ensuremath{\Vert}m\ensuremath{\Vert}=24--35 for laboratory fields up to several tens of teslas. We can, therefore, follow a number of physical properties, such as transition frequencies and radiative decay times, of circular states as functions of the magnetic field strength and make predictions that should be verifiable experimentally.
The degree of linear polarization P L for two-photon absorption of alkali atoms in intermediate strength magnetic fields has been computationally investigated. Polarization spectra were obtained for n a s 2 S 1/2 to n b s 2 S 1/2 transitions with the photons in near resonance with intermediate 2 P j levels. Previous experiments and calculations in the absence of a magnetic held revealed a complete polarization reversal (P L approximately -100%) for frequencies near resonance between the 2 P 1/2 and 2 P 3/2 levels due to fine-structure coherence. Application of weak to intermediate strength fields induce additional depolarization features as a result of anomalous Zeeman splitting. The fine-structure depolarization feature disappears for strong fields (Paschen-Back regime), while the calculations predict that Zeeman depolarization persists though the transitions become forbidden. Magnetic-field-dependent polarization spectra can be measured in the laboratory with high precision and it should prove interesting to trace through the weak, intermediate, and strong field regimes.
We precisely investigate the Zeeman and Paschen-Back effects of the hyperfine structure during the rubidium $5{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{2}{S}_{1/2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}5{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{2}{D}_{5/2}$ two-photon transition. Owing to the high sensitivity of the DDD state of atoms to a magnetic field, the splittings of the spectra of the DDD state are sufficiently large in a weak magnetic field of <10<10<10 G. We experimentally observe how in the hyperfine coupling in the 52D5/25{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{2}{D}_{5/2}52D5/2​ state is disrupted even in weak magnetic fields around 10 G and the energy levels are arranged according to their total angular momentum JJJ and nuclear spin III. The transient of the spectra known as the Paschen-Back effect is observed even in a weak magnetic field with an order of magnitude of several tens of gauss. The results of theoretical calculations for energy shifts and transition intensities under a magnetic field are in quantitative agreement with the experimental results.