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Annual Meeting Optical Society of America

Picosecond laser excitation of Rydberg quantum beats

Jonathan Parker, Carlos R. Stroud

Published Jan 1, 1985• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A series of calculations are presented showing the response of an atom to a picosecond laser pulse that simultaneously excites a number of Rydberg states. A coherent electron wave packet is formed. The packet may disperse and reform repeatedly as its center moves along a classical orbit. The repeated acceleration and deceleration of the wave packet as it moves around the orbit leads to a corresponding variation in the radiation rate of the atom. The result is a complicated pattern of multilevel quantum beats. Examples are shown for various excitation frequencies and pulse durations. Experimental implications are discussed.

DOI
10.1364/oam.1985.fn3

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Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics•Mar 1, 2003•0 citations
A series of calculations are presented showing the response of an atom to a picosecond laser pulse that simultaneously excites a number of Rydberg states. A coherent electron wave packet is formed. The packet may disperse and reform repeatedly as its center moves along a classical orbit. The repeated acceleration and deceleration of the wave packet as it moves around the orbit leads to a corresponding variation in the radiation rate of the atom. The result is a complicated pattern of multilevel quantum beats. Examples are shown for various excitation frequencies and pulse durations. Experimental implications are discussed.
An experiment is described which is an analog of Young's double-slit interferometer using an atomic electron instead of light. Two phase-coherent laser pulses are used to excite a single electron into a state of the form of a pair of Rydberg wave packets that are initially on opposite sides of the orbit. The two wave packets propagate and spread until they completely overlap, then a third phase-coherent laser pulse probes the resulting fringe pattern. The relative phase of the two wave packets is varied so that the interference produces a single localized electron wave packet on one side of the orbit or the other.
The short-pulse dynamics of excitation and stimulated emission between highly excited states (15<n<60)(15<n<60)(15<n<60) is studied with picosecond far-infrared pulses (40--60 $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$) originating from a free electron laser. We measured the excitation of a Rydberg wave packet in rubidium around n=40n=40n=40 excited from a deeper bound $(n\ensuremath{\approx}20)$ Rydberg state by a picosecond far-infrared laser pulse. Moreover, starting from a stationary n=40n=40n=40 state we found that upon irradiating with a short far-infrared laser pulse, adjacent Rydberg states are populated by resonant Raman transfer via a deeper (n=20)(n=20)(n=20) bound state. Finally, we discuss the dynamics of wave-packet excitation at a Cooper minimum in lithium, where sign change of the excitation matrix elements causes excitation at large distances from the atomic core. Possible measurement methods for this effect are discussed and found to yield different information.
Excitation of multilevel Rydberg states (atoms and diatomic molecules) is studied under an intense time-periodic perturbation that is instantaneously turned on and off. For a one-quantum excitation from a lower lying state, general expressions for the Laplace images of the population amplitudes of Rydberg states are obtained with regard to their decay characteristics. It is shown that the problem considered is reduced to the determination of the positions and widths of the energy levels of a quantum system in the field of monochromatic laser radiation of the same frequency and intensity as that in a pulse mode. To determine these quantities, an integral formulation is proposed for the eigenvalue problem for energies that is relatively simply solved with regard to the effect of the ionic core and its complex vibration-rotation structure on diatomic molecules. The specific features of the excitation of Rydberg states and the behavior of Rydberg wave packets are studied depending on the intensity and duration of laser radiation. A quantum phenomenon of rotational orientation of electron-excited diatomic molecules is considered.