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Physical Review Letters

Anticrossing Spectroscopy of Rydberg Atoms Using Blackbody Radiation

R. C. Stoneman, Thomas F. Gallagher

Published Dec 2, 1985• 21 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report the observation of anticrossing signals arising from the interaction of 300-K blackbody radiation with Rydberg atoms near avoided crossings of Stark levels. The role of the blackbody radiation is roughly analogous to that of the resonance fluorescence in traditional anticrossing spectroscopy. We present preliminary results for avoided crossings of $\mathrm{ns}$ states with $n\ensuremath{-}2$ Stark states in potassium for $n$ in the range 18-21.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.55.2567

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We report the observation of anticrossing signals arising from the interaction of 300-K blackbody radiation with Rydberg atoms near avoided crossings of Stark levels. The role of the blackbody radiation is roughly analogous to that of the resonance fluorescence in traditional anticrossing spectroscopy. We present preliminary results for avoided crossings of ns\mathrm{ns}ns states with n\ensuremath−2n\ensuremath{-}2n\ensuremath−2 Stark states in potassium for nnn in the range 18-21.
The avoided crossings in an electric field of K s and p states with the nearly hydrogenic Stark manifold states have been investigated using 300-K blackbody radiation. Anticrossings between states of the same \ensuremath{\Vert}mj{m}_{j}mj​\ensuremath{\Vert} for which the \ensuremath{\Vert}ml{m}_{l}ml​\ensuremath{\Vert} values are the same or differ by one are encountered. The anticrossings between states of the same \ensuremath{\Vert}ml{m}_{l}ml​\ensuremath{\Vert} are quite wide as they are due to core penetration and polarization effects. The anticrossings for which \ensuremath{\Vert}ml{m}_{l}ml​\ensuremath{\Vert} differs by one are produced by the spin-orbit interaction and are accordingly quite small. We present results for the ns states for n in the range 18--29 and for the np states for n in the range 19--23.
We have excited helium atoms from their metastable 2 3S{}^{3}\phantom{\rule{-0.16em}{0ex}}S3S state to Rydberg states in the range 13<n<5013<n<5013<n<50 in a two-step process via the 3 3P{}^{3}\phantom{\rule{-0.16em}{0ex}}P3P state using light at $\ensuremath{\lambda}=389$ nm and 785--815 nm. Atoms in a thermal beam (100 K) cross partially overlapping laser beams of the appropriate frequencies in the counterintuitive order to exploit the high efficiency of stimulated rapid adiabatic passage. The interaction region is between two plates that can be used for Stark tuning in a few V/cm field or for field ionization. At fields much too low for field ionization, we observe signals attributed to ionization by blackbody radiation. Multiple tests confirm this attribution as the cause of ionization. For example, by heating the plates we observe the expected signal increases. Our experiments reinforce previous work where the interaction between Rydberg atoms and room temperature blackbody radiation is important for experiments.
We have measured the locations and widths of the avoided level crossings between (n+3)s states and n,k Stark states in Rydberg Rb atoms with principal quantum numbers n between 16 and 25. We use two-step laser excitation to excite (n+3)s states in the presence of an electric field and observe a change in the number of atoms driven to higher-lying states by blackbody radiation as the electric field is tuned through the avoided level crossings. We have measured both the positions and widths of the avoided crossings. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
The level-crossing technique of atomic spectroscopy utilizes the spatial interference in the scattering of resonance radiation which can occur when two Zeeman levels of an atom are brought into coincidence ("crossed") by the application of an external magnetic field. "Anticrossing" refers to the case where the two levels involved are coupled by a small static interaction. In this paper the general expression for an anticrossing signal is given and its predictions compared with signals observed in the 22P2 ^{2}P22P term of Li. It is shown that anticrossings produce signals in many experimental situations for which there would be no signal from a normal level crossing.
We have measured the avoided crossings between the Cs (n+4)s states and the lowest three members of the adjacent n Stark manifold for 20<or=n<or=24 using a novel technique based on the differences in the pulsed field ionization of the states under study. The measured positions of the avoided crossings are in excellent agreement with values calculated by matrix diagonalization, and the experimentally determined widths of the avoided crossings, which range from 29 to 78 MHz, are in reasonable agreement with the calculated values.
Blackbody radiation is expected to produce a temperature-dependent Stark shift in atomic Rydberg states. Unfortunately, in "one-electron" atoms, all the Rydberg levels experience the same shift, and the effect is only observable on an optical transition from the ground state. However, in a many-electron atom the presence of valence-state perturbers leads to unequal shifts of the Rydberg levels. This should make it possible to observe the frequency shift of a transition between two neighboring Rydberg states at a frequency in the radio-frequency range. This eliminates the need for a very stable visible laser, which so far has been the major technical obstacle to the observation and utilization of the effect. We present as an example a specific case in Ba.