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Physical Review A

Ionization of Rydberg atoms at metallic surfaces: Influence of stray fields

Yu Pu, Dennis Neufeld, F. B. Dunning

Published Apr 30, 2010• 25 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The ionization of xenon Rydberg atoms at metallic surfaces is examined. The data show that, when the effects of stray electric ``patch'' fields present on the surface are taken into account, ionization is well described by a simple over-the-barrier model. The patch fields are determined from direct measurements of the potential variations across the target surfaces using Kelvin probe force microscopy. Monte Carlo techniques are used to model the atom-surface interaction. The results confirm the important role that patch fields can play during Rydberg atom-surface interactions and suggest that such interactions can provide a sensitive probe of stray fields at surfaces.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.81.042904

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The ionization of xenon Rydberg atoms at metallic surfaces is examined. The data show that, when the effects of stray electric "patch" fields present on the surface are taken into account, ionization is well described by a simple over-the-barrier model. The patch fields are determined from direct measurements of the potential variations across the target surfaces using Kelvin probe force microscopy. Monte Carlo techniques are used to model the atom-surface interaction. The results confirm the important role that patch fields can play during Rydberg atom-surface interactions and suggest that such interactions can provide a sensitive probe of stray fields at surfaces. To demonstrate this, measurements of the threshold conditions required to observe ions resulting from surface ionization are used to estimate how large such stray fields can be. The data show that the stray fields can be sizable, as large as ∼ 10 3 V · cm -1 100 nm from the surface and ∼ 10 V · cm -1 500 nm from the surface, and illustrate the potential of Rydberg atoms for detecting and characterizing surface electric fields. Methods to enhance the surface ionization signal using electrode arrays patterned on a surface are investigated. Simulations show that bias voltages applied to a series of parallel wires comprised of two interleaved comb-shaped electrodes can have a dramatic impact on ion collection efficiency. It is suggested that such a surface can be used to efficiently collect low- n Rydberg atoms ( n [Special characters omitted.] 10). Significant progress towards fabrication of a functioning surface of 1 μm wide wires with 1 μm spacing is documented.

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The present work has explained a long-standing discrepency between theory and experiment: the broadening of the distances at which Rydberg atoms ionize over a metallic surface. The uneven surface potential distribution on a template-stripped gold surface evaporated on mica is measured with Kelvin probe force microscopy. The stray fields generated by the surface potential are calculated. Simulation with C++ and Matlab predicts how stray fields affect the ionization of Rydberg state atoms near a gold surface. The predicted survival probabilities for different n levels and different incident angles provided by the simulations are then compared with experiments, which shows surprisingly good agreement. Although metallic surfaces are approximately ideal equipotentials in the macroscopic world, Rydberg atoms demonstrate the important role stray fields play in the microscopic world.

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The ionization of xenon Rydberg atoms at metallic surfaces is examined. The data show that, when the effects of stray electric ``patch'' fields present on the surface are taken into account, ionization is well described by a simple over-the-barrier model. The patch fields are determined from direct measurements of the potential variations across the target surfaces using Kelvin probe force microscopy. Monte Carlo techniques are used to model the atom-surface interaction. The results confirm the important role that patch fields can play during Rydberg atom-surface interactions and suggest that such interactions can provide a sensitive probe of stray fields at surfaces.
The ionization of xenon Rydberg atoms at metallic surfaces is examined. The data show that, when the effects of stray electric "patch" fields present on the surface are taken into account, ionization is well described by a simple over-the-barrier model. The patch fields are determined from direct measurements of the potential variations across the target surfaces using Kelvin probe force microscopy. Monte Carlo techniques are used to model the atom-surface interaction. The results confirm the important role that patch fields can play during Rydberg atom-surface interactions and suggest that such interactions can provide a sensitive probe of stray fields at surfaces. To demonstrate this, measurements of the threshold conditions required to observe ions resulting from surface ionization are used to estimate how large such stray fields can be. The data show that the stray fields can be sizable, as large as ∼ 10 3 V · cm -1 100 nm from the surface and ∼ 10 V · cm -1 500 nm from the surface, and illustrate the potential of Rydberg atoms for detecting and characterizing surface electric fields. Methods to enhance the surface ionization signal using electrode arrays patterned on a surface are investigated. Simulations show that bias voltages applied to a series of parallel wires comprised of two interleaved comb-shaped electrodes can have a dramatic impact on ion collection efficiency. It is suggested that such a surface can be used to efficiently collect low- n Rydberg atoms ( n [Special characters omitted.] 10). Significant progress towards fabrication of a functioning surface of 1 μm wide wires with 1 μm spacing is documented.
The present work has explained a long-standing discrepency between theory and experiment: the broadening of the distances at which Rydberg atoms ionize over a metallic surface. The uneven surface potential distribution on a template-stripped gold surface evaporated on mica is measured with Kelvin probe force microscopy. The stray fields generated by the surface potential are calculated. Simulation with C++ and Matlab predicts how stray fields affect the ionization of Rydberg state atoms near a gold surface. The predicted survival probabilities for different n levels and different incident angles provided by the simulations are then compared with experiments, which shows surprisingly good agreement. Although metallic surfaces are approximately ideal equipotentials in the macroscopic world, Rydberg atoms demonstrate the important role stray fields play in the microscopic world.
The behavior of Rydberg atoms near metal surfaces in the presence of an external electric field has been examined theoretically to evaluate their potential use as an experimental probe of electron tunneling processes at surfaces. These ab initio calculations reveal strong hybridization that leads to a shift and broadening of the Rydberg levels that depend sensitively on the atom-surface separation and the strength of the applied electric field. A range of external fields exists, however, for which the Rydberg atoms ionize at sufficiently large atom-surface separations that, even in the presence of image charge attraction, the resulting positive ions can escape the surface and provide an experimentally observable signal. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
The interface of neutral Rydberg atoms in the gas phase with a solid surface is of interest in many fields of modern research. This interface poses a particular challenge for any application in which Rydberg atoms are close to a substrate but also opens up the possibility of studying properties of the surface material itself through the atomic response. In this review the focus is on the process of electron tunneling from the excited state into the substrate that occurs when a Rydberg atom is located in front of a surface at a range of a few hundred nm and is demonstrated with a metallic surface. It is shown how variations in this ionisation mechanism can provide a powerful tool to probe image-charge effects, measure small superficial electric stray or patch fields and how charge transfer from the Rydberg atom can be in resonance with energetically discrete surface states.
Lithographically patterned micrometer-scale electrode arrays are used to examine the effects of controlled surface electric fields on Rydberg-atom--surface interactions. The data show that application of modest electrode biases (\ensuremath{\sim}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1 V) can lead to a transition from ionization of the incident atoms by short-range tunneling to field ionization well above the target surface. The resulting ions can be efficiently detected using ion collection fields whose strengths are substantially smaller than those required for direct field ionization pointing to the application of surface ionization in the detection of low-nnn Rydberg atoms. The data are analyzed with the aid of a Monte Carlo model and further demonstrate the critical role that local surface fields can play in governing the nature of atom-surface interactions.
The behavior of Rydberg atoms near metal surfaces in the presence of an external electric field has been examined theoretically to evaluate their potential use as an experimental probe of electron tunneling processes at surfaces. These ab initio calculations reveal strong hybridization that leads to a shift and broadening of the Rydberg levels that depend sensitively on the atom-surface separation and the strength of the applied electric field. A range of external fields exists, however, for which the Rydberg atoms ionize at sufficiently large atom-surface separations that, even in the presence of image charge attraction, the resulting positive ions can escape the surface and provide an experimentally observable signal. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.