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HIGH RESOLUTION MICROWAVE SPECTROSCOPY OF ULTRA COLD RYDBERG ATOMS AS A PROBE OF ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FIELDS

Parisa Bohlouli-Zanjani

Published Jan 1, 2003• 4 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii In highly excited Rydberg atoms, the excited electron is in a large, loosely bound orbit. Hence, in contrast with the ground states, the Rydberg states are very sensitive to external electric field and can be ionized in rather weak fields. The low ionization threshold of Rydberg states results in effective state-specific detection by the selective field ionization technique. In this thesis, high-resolution spectroscopy of Rydberg states of Rubidium using millimeter wave transitions and selective field ionization has been used as a probe of external electric and magnetic fields. Laser cooling and trapping techniques in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) are employed to have a high density and narrow velocity distribution for the atomic sample. In this work the magnetic field inhomogeneity inherent in a MOT is minimized and the stray electric field present at the trap region is compensated in order to have resolved spectra.

Related papers

HIGH RESOLUTION MICROWAVE SPECTROSCOPY OF ULTRA COLD RYDBERG ATOMS AS A PROBE OF ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FIELDS

Parisa Bohlouli-Zanjani

In highly excited Rydberg atoms, the excited electron is in a large, loosely bound orbit. Hence, in contrast with the ground states, the Rydberg states are very sensitive to external electric field and can be ionized in rather weak fields. The low ionization threshold of Rydberg states results in effective state-specific detection by the selective field ionization technique. \t In this thesis, high-resolution spectroscopy of Rydberg states of Rubidium using millimeter wave transitions and selective field ionization has been used as a probe of external electric and magnetic fields. Laser cooling and trapping techniques in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) are employed to have a high density and narrow velocity distribution for the atomic sample. In this work the magnetic field inhomogeneity inherent in a MOT is minimized and the stray electric field present at the trap region is compensated in order to have resolved spectra. The Stark line broadening of the spectra obtained in this work may be used to determine the electric field distribution in an expanding ultra-cold neutral plasma.

•Jan 1, 2003•2 citations

Observation of resonant electric dipole-dipole interactions between cold Rydberg atoms using microwave spectroscopy

K. Afrousheh

I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii This thesis reports the first observation of the resonant electric dipole-dipole interaction between cold Rydberg atoms using microwave spectroscopy, the observation of the magnetic field suppression of resonant interactions, and the development of a unique technique for precise magnetic field measurements. ARydbergstate(46d 5/2) of laser cooled 85 Rb atoms has been optically excited. A fraction of these atoms has been transferred to another Rydberg state (47p 3/2 or 45f 5/2,7/2) to introduce resonant electric dipole-dipole interactions. The line broadening of the two-photon 46d 5/2 − 47d 5/2 microwave transition due to the interaction of 46d 5/2 with 47p 3/2 or 45f 5/2,7/2 atoms has been used as a probe of the interatomic interactions. This experiment has been repeated with a DC magnetic field applied. The application of a weak magnetic field ( ≤ 0.6 G) has reduced

•Jan 1, 2006•2 citations

High-resolution spectroscopy of Rydberg states in an ultracold cesium gas

Heiner Saßmannshausen, Frédéric Merkt, Johannes Deiglmayr

Transitions between high Rydberg states of ${}^{133}$Cs atoms have been studied by high-resolution millimeter-wave spectroscopy of an ultracold sample. The spectroscopic measurements were performed after releasing the atoms from a magneto-optical trap. Switching off all trapping fields and compensating the stray electric and magnetic fields to below 1 mV/cm and 2 mG, respectively, prior to the spectroscopic measurement enabled the recording of millimeter-wave spectra of Rydberg states with principal quantum number beyond $n=100$ under conditions where the inhomogeneous broadening by stray fields is minimal and no dephasing of the Rydberg-atom sample can be detected over measurement times up to 60 $\ensuremath{\mu}$s. The Fourier-transform-limited line widths of better than 20 kHz enabled the observation of the hyperfine structure of $nS$ and $nP$ Rydberg states of Cs beyond $n=90$. The analysis of the line shapes of transitions to Rydberg states with $n\ensuremath{\approx}230$ indicated that field inhomogeneities across the atomic sample represent the dominant cause of spectral broadening at high $n$ values. The analysis also revealed that the initial polarization of the atomic sample ($F=4$, ${M}_{F}=4$) is preserved for several tens of microseconds, the depolarization being caused by slow precession along the magnetic stray fields.

Physical Review A•Mar 27, 2013•53 citations

Experiments with Rydberg atoms on a current-carrying atom chip

NM Martin

On one side, atom-chip experiments have demonstrated to be a versatile tool to study quantum physics in cold atoms systems. On the other side, Rydberg atoms have exaggerated properties that makes them good candidates to study quantum information and quantum simulations protocols. In this thesis both system are put together with the aim to study Rydberg physics (in particular atom-atom interaction) in an atom-chip experiment. Due to the exaggerated properties of Rydberg atoms they are very sensitive to electric fields. Thus, the combination of Rydberg atoms with surfaces can be challenging. Therefore a detailed characterization of the mentioned stray electric fields via the analysis of Stark-Zeeman maps is crucial. We employ two-photon Rydberg Stark spectroscopy of a micron-sized cloud of magnetically trapped ultracold rubidium atoms to characterize the electric fields near our atom-chip. Once we characterized the local electric fields we were able to study in more detail the effect of Rydberg excitation in the ultracold cloud of atoms. For instance we observed the formation of ultralong-range Rydberg molecules in our system. In these molecules a ground state atom is weakly bound to the Rydberg electron. We also attempted to observe the effect of Rydberg blockade in the system by looking at the characteristics of Rydberg spectra. Finally we studied the possibility of inducing rf transitions within a Rydberg state manifold in order to enhance our detection method and populate states that are not accessible directly with a two-photon laser transition.

•Jan 1, 2018•0 citations

Investigation of cold rubidium Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap

Denis B. Tretyakov, Ilya I. Beterov, Vasily M. Entin +2 more

This paper reports on the results of experiments with cold rubidium Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap. The specific feature of the experiments is the excitation of Rydberg atoms in a small volume within a cloud of cold atoms and the sorting of measured signals and spectra according to the number of detected Rydberg atoms. The effective lifetime of the 37 P Rydberg state and its polarizability in a weak electric field are measured. The results obtained are in good agreement with theoretical calculations. It is demonstrated that the localization of the excitation volume in the vicinity of the zero-magnetic-field point makes it possible to improve the spectral resolution and to obtain narrow microwave resonances in Rydberg atoms without switching off the quadrupole magnetic field of the trap. The dependence of the amplitude of dipole-dipole interaction resonances in Rydberg atoms on the number of atoms is measured. This dependence exhibits a linear behavior and agrees with the theory for a weak dipole-dipole interaction.

arXiv:0810.5427•Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics•Mar 1, 2009•23 citations

Interactions of Rydberg atoms in MOTs

David M. Feldbaum

We have studied the development of gases of ultra-cold Rydberg atoms in Magneto Optic Traps, and discovered that such gases exhibit a range of density-dependent phenomena. In particular, we have found that at the densities of ∼ 10 7 cm -3 the Rydberg atoms spontaneously evolve into long-lived high angular momentum states. These states slowly decay due to microwave background radiation over tens of milliseconds. We have numerically simulated the effects leading to such behavior, and investigated numerically the l- and n-mixing collisions of Rydberg atoms with electrons in the range of 10 meV. These calculations show that the l- and n-mixing cross-sections follow the n 5 scaling law, expected from simple Stark map considerations, but also depend on the velocities of the colliding electrons, reflecting the adiabaticity of the atom-electron interactions. We have developed a novel technique of measuring the electric fields inside plasmas by using Rydberg excitation spectroscopy of embedded atoms, based on the disappearance of regions of zero oscillator strength in the presence of such fields. We have applied this technique to study the evolution of ultra-cold non-neutral plasmas excited from the MOT, and have found that it expands over 1 mus. We have simulated such an expansion by considering only Coulomb repulsion between the constituent ions, and have found that such a model is consistent with the experimental observations.

•Jan 1, 2003•0 citations
I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii In highly excited Rydberg atoms, the excited electron is in a large, loosely bound orbit. Hence, in contrast with the ground states, the Rydberg states are very sensitive to external electric field and can be ionized in rather weak fields. The low ionization threshold of Rydberg states results in effective state-specific detection by the selective field ionization technique. In this thesis, high-resolution spectroscopy of Rydberg states of Rubidium using millimeter wave transitions and selective field ionization has been used as a probe of external electric and magnetic fields. Laser cooling and trapping techniques in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) are employed to have a high density and narrow velocity distribution for the atomic sample. In this work the magnetic field inhomogeneity inherent in a MOT is minimized and the stray electric field present at the trap region is compensated in order to have resolved spectra.
In highly excited Rydberg atoms, the excited electron is in a large, loosely bound orbit. Hence, in contrast with the ground states, the Rydberg states are very sensitive to external electric field and can be ionized in rather weak fields. The low ionization threshold of Rydberg states results in effective state-specific detection by the selective field ionization technique. \t In this thesis, high-resolution spectroscopy of Rydberg states of Rubidium using millimeter wave transitions and selective field ionization has been used as a probe of external electric and magnetic fields. Laser cooling and trapping techniques in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) are employed to have a high density and narrow velocity distribution for the atomic sample. In this work the magnetic field inhomogeneity inherent in a MOT is minimized and the stray electric field present at the trap region is compensated in order to have resolved spectra. The Stark line broadening of the spectra obtained in this work may be used to determine the electric field distribution in an expanding ultra-cold neutral plasma.
I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii This thesis reports the first observation of the resonant electric dipole-dipole interaction between cold Rydberg atoms using microwave spectroscopy, the observation of the magnetic field suppression of resonant interactions, and the development of a unique technique for precise magnetic field measurements. ARydbergstate(46d 5/2) of laser cooled 85 Rb atoms has been optically excited. A fraction of these atoms has been transferred to another Rydberg state (47p 3/2 or 45f 5/2,7/2) to introduce resonant electric dipole-dipole interactions. The line broadening of the two-photon 46d 5/2 − 47d 5/2 microwave transition due to the interaction of 46d 5/2 with 47p 3/2 or 45f 5/2,7/2 atoms has been used as a probe of the interatomic interactions. This experiment has been repeated with a DC magnetic field applied. The application of a weak magnetic field ( ≤ 0.6 G) has reduced
Transitions between high Rydberg states of 133{}^{133}133Cs atoms have been studied by high-resolution millimeter-wave spectroscopy of an ultracold sample. The spectroscopic measurements were performed after releasing the atoms from a magneto-optical trap. Switching off all trapping fields and compensating the stray electric and magnetic fields to below 1 mV/cm and 2 mG, respectively, prior to the spectroscopic measurement enabled the recording of millimeter-wave spectra of Rydberg states with principal quantum number beyond n=100n=100n=100 under conditions where the inhomogeneous broadening by stray fields is minimal and no dephasing of the Rydberg-atom sample can be detected over measurement times up to 60 $\ensuremath{\mu}$s. The Fourier-transform-limited line widths of better than 20 kHz enabled the observation of the hyperfine structure of nSnSnS and nPnPnP Rydberg states of Cs beyond n=90n=90n=90. The analysis of the line shapes of transitions to Rydberg states with $n\ensuremath{\approx}230$ indicated that field inhomogeneities across the atomic sample represent the dominant cause of spectral broadening at high nnn values. The analysis also revealed that the initial polarization of the atomic sample (F=4F=4F=4, MF=4{M}_{F}=4MF​=4) is preserved for several tens of microseconds, the depolarization being caused by slow precession along the magnetic stray fields.
On one side, atom-chip experiments have demonstrated to be a versatile tool to study quantum physics in cold atoms systems. On the other side, Rydberg atoms have exaggerated properties that makes them good candidates to study quantum information and quantum simulations protocols. In this thesis both system are put together with the aim to study Rydberg physics (in particular atom-atom interaction) in an atom-chip experiment. Due to the exaggerated properties of Rydberg atoms they are very sensitive to electric fields. Thus, the combination of Rydberg atoms with surfaces can be challenging. Therefore a detailed characterization of the mentioned stray electric fields via the analysis of Stark-Zeeman maps is crucial. We employ two-photon Rydberg Stark spectroscopy of a micron-sized cloud of magnetically trapped ultracold rubidium atoms to characterize the electric fields near our atom-chip. Once we characterized the local electric fields we were able to study in more detail the effect of Rydberg excitation in the ultracold cloud of atoms. For instance we observed the formation of ultralong-range Rydberg molecules in our system. In these molecules a ground state atom is weakly bound to the Rydberg electron. We also attempted to observe the effect of Rydberg blockade in the system by looking at the characteristics of Rydberg spectra. Finally we studied the possibility of inducing rf transitions within a Rydberg state manifold in order to enhance our detection method and populate states that are not accessible directly with a two-photon laser transition.
This paper reports on the results of experiments with cold rubidium Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap. The specific feature of the experiments is the excitation of Rydberg atoms in a small volume within a cloud of cold atoms and the sorting of measured signals and spectra according to the number of detected Rydberg atoms. The effective lifetime of the 37 P Rydberg state and its polarizability in a weak electric field are measured. The results obtained are in good agreement with theoretical calculations. It is demonstrated that the localization of the excitation volume in the vicinity of the zero-magnetic-field point makes it possible to improve the spectral resolution and to obtain narrow microwave resonances in Rydberg atoms without switching off the quadrupole magnetic field of the trap. The dependence of the amplitude of dipole-dipole interaction resonances in Rydberg atoms on the number of atoms is measured. This dependence exhibits a linear behavior and agrees with the theory for a weak dipole-dipole interaction.
We have studied the development of gases of ultra-cold Rydberg atoms in Magneto Optic Traps, and discovered that such gases exhibit a range of density-dependent phenomena. In particular, we have found that at the densities of ∼ 10 7 cm -3 the Rydberg atoms spontaneously evolve into long-lived high angular momentum states. These states slowly decay due to microwave background radiation over tens of milliseconds. We have numerically simulated the effects leading to such behavior, and investigated numerically the l- and n-mixing collisions of Rydberg atoms with electrons in the range of 10 meV. These calculations show that the l- and n-mixing cross-sections follow the n 5 scaling law, expected from simple Stark map considerations, but also depend on the velocities of the colliding electrons, reflecting the adiabaticity of the atom-electron interactions. We have developed a novel technique of measuring the electric fields inside plasmas by using Rydberg excitation spectroscopy of embedded atoms, based on the disappearance of regions of zero oscillator strength in the presence of such fields. We have applied this technique to study the evolution of ultra-cold non-neutral plasmas excited from the MOT, and have found that it expands over 1 mus. We have simulated such an expansion by considering only Coulomb repulsion between the constituent ions, and have found that such a model is consistent with the experimental observations.