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Science

Microwave Manipulation of an Atomic Electron in a Classical Orbit

H. Maeda, D.V.L. Norum, Thomas F. Gallagher

Published Feb 11, 2005• 72 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Although an atom is a manifestly quantum mechanical system, the electron in an atom can be made to move in a classical orbit almost indefinitely if it is exposed to a weak microwave field oscillating at its orbital frequency. The field effectively tethers the electron, phase-locking its motion to the oscillating microwave field. By exploiting this phase-locking, we have sped up or slowed down the orbital motion of the electron in excited lithium atoms by increasing or decreasing the microwave frequency between 13 and 19 gigahertz; the binding energy and orbital size change concurrently.

DOI
10.1126/science.1108470

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Although an atom is a manifestly quantum mechanical system, the electron in an atom can be made to move in a classical orbit almost indefinitely if it is exposed to a weak microwave field oscillating at its orbital frequency. The field effectively tethers the electron, phase-locking its motion to the oscillating microwave field. By exploiting this phase-locking, we have sped up or slowed down the orbital motion of the electron in excited lithium atoms by increasing or decreasing the microwave frequency between 13 and 19 gigahertz; the binding energy and orbital size change concurrently.
It is possible to make nondispersing Bohr wave packets in a straightforward way starting from Li Rydberg atoms in an np eigenstate[2]. These atoms are first exposed to a linearly polarized microwave field at the orbital frequency, 17.6GHz at n = 72. The linearly polarized field phase locks the electron wave packet to the microwave phase, making a nondispersing wave packet in which the electron oscillates in a highly eccentric, approximately linear orbit. We detect the phase locked motion of the electron with a 1/2ps half-cycle pulse synchronized with the microwave field. Slowly changing the microwave polarization from linear to circular polarization creates a nondispersing Bohr wave packet that survives for thousands of orbits.
Long-lived, nondispersing circular, or Bohr, wave packets are produced starting from Li Rydberg atoms by exposing them first to a linearly polarized microwave field at the orbital frequency, 17.6 GHz at principal quantum number n=72, which locks the electron's motion into an approximately linear orbit in which the electron oscillates in phase with the microwave field. The microwave polarization is changed to circular polarization slowly compared to the orbital frequency, and the electron's motion follows, resulting in a nondispersing Bohr wave packet.
When a Rydberg atom is slowly swept through a dipole allowed resonance with an oscillating field adiabatic rapid passage (ARP) from one state to the other can occur. By measuring the time resolved momentum of a Rydberg electron with a half cycle pulse we demonstrate that during ARP the classical oscillating dipole due to the orbital motion of the electron becomes phase locked to the microwave field driving the resonance. Depending on the direction of the sweep through resonance, the atom is in one or the other of the two Floquet eigenstates in which the electron is phase locked in or $\ensuremath{\pi}$ out of phase with the driving field. In contrast, in Rabi oscillations the electron motion oscillates between leading and lagging the driving microwave field.