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Applied Optics

Radiative lifetime measurement of ultracold cesium Rydberg states by a simplified optical pumping method

Jiaqi Du, Ting Gong, Zhonghua Ji, Chen‐Hao Wang, Yanting Zhao, Liantuan Xiao, Suotang Jia

Published Dec 8, 2020• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate one simplified all-optical method to measure the radiative lifetime of ultracold cesium (Cs) Rydberg atoms. This method is based on photodetection of one ground state atomic absorption in a ladder-type electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT), which contains one ground state, one intermediate state, and one Rydberg state. In the presence and absence of optical pumping between the Rydberg state and the intermediate state, the absorption difference with varying delay time can reconstruct the population evolution of target Rydberg atoms. By using this method, the radiative lifetimes of 50 S 1 / 2 and 50 D 5 / 2 of Cs atoms are measured to be 53 ( 9 ) µ s and 42 ( 9 ) µ s , respectively, which are consistent with theoretical calculations. The agreements show the reliability of our presented method, which can provide a route for researching light–matter interaction behavior without the need to quantify absorption characteristic.

DOI
10.1364/ao.411240

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We have developed an all-optical method for measuring the lifetimes of nSnSnS and nDnDnD Rydberg states and demonstrate its capabilities with measurements on a dilute cloud of ultracold 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms in a cryogenic environment. The method is based on the time-resolved observation of resonant light absorption by ground-state atoms and selective transfer of Rydberg atoms into the ground state at varying delay times in order to reconstruct Rydberg decay curves. Our measurements of the 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb 30S1/230{S}_{1/2}30S1/2​ state indicate an increase of the lifetime at lowered environment temperatures, as expected due to decreased blackbody radiation. For the 38D5/238{D}_{5/2}38D5/2​ state with an attractive dipole-dipole interaction, ionization and lifetime reduction due to collisional effects are observed.
A high sensitivity spectroscopy of Rydberg atoms is presented by using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in the 6S(1/2)-6P(3/2)-n D ladder-type system of cesium vapor cell at room temperature. The EIT spectra of 40 D Rydberg state are measured and the dependences of the EIT magnitude and linewidth on the coupling laser power are investigated in detail. The Rydberg EIT linewidth is measured to be about 5.6 MHz when the powers of probe and coupling lasers are 50 microW and 5.2 mW, respectively, and which is close to the natural linewidth of cesium atoms. The effect of double resonance optical pumping on EIT is also investigated. The fine structures of nD (n = 39-55) are measured and the experimental result is in agreement with quantum defect theory.
The lifetimes of nS1/2 and nD5/2 (n = 60–83) cesium Rydberg states are measured accurately in a magneto-optical trap using the field ionization technique and analyzed with the existing theoretical model. The room temperature blackbody radiation (BBR) and interaction between Rydberg atoms can enhance the decay rate and reduce the spontaneous lifetime of the given Rydberg atom. The measured lifetime shows a good agreement with the calculation accounting a room temperature BBR at low enough Rydberg atomic density. The dependence of measured lifetime on atomic density shows that the collision and interaction between Rydberg atoms have a large effect on the lifetime at higher Rydberg atomic density. The scaling laws of n2.55±0.02 for nD5/2 state and n2.30±0.01 for nS1/2 state within n = 60–83 range are obtained and agreement with the model calculation with a relative deviation less than 3%.
We have measured the radiative lifetimes of ns, np and nd Rydberg states of rubidium in the range 28 < n < 45. To enable long-lived states to be measured, our experiment uses slow-moving Rb atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Two experimental techniques have been adopted to reduce random and systematic errors. First, a narrow-bandwidth pulsed laser is used to excite the target Rydberg state, resulting in minimal shot-to-shot variation in the initial state population. Second, we monitor the target state population as a function of time delay from the laser pulse using a short-duration, millimetre-wave pulse that is resonant with a one- or two-photon transition. We then selectively field ionize the monitor state, and detect the resulting electrons with a micro-channel plate. This signal is an accurate mirror of the target state population, and is uncontaminated by contributions from other states which are populated by black body radiation. Our results are generally consistent with other recent experimental results obtained using a less sensitive method, and are also in excellent agreement with theory.
We investigate Rydberg |65D5/2〉 → |66P3/2〉 superradiance in dense ultracold cesium atoms, where the ground atoms are excited to |65D5/2〉 Rydberg states via two-photon excitation in a standard magneto-optical trap. The superradiant spectrum of |65D5/2〉 → |66P3/2〉 is obtained using the state-selective field ionization technique. We observe its dynamic evolution process by varying the delay time of ionization field t d. The results show that the evolution process of |65D5/2〉 → |66P3/2〉 is much shorter than its radiation lifetime at room temperature, which verifies the superradiance effect. The dependence of the superradiance process on Rydberg atoms number N e and principal quantum number n is investigated. The results show that the superradiance becomes faster with increasing N e, while it is suppressed for stronger van der Waals (vdW) interactions. Superradiance has potential applications in quantum technologies, and the Rydberg atom is an ideal medium for superradiance. Our system is effective for studying the strong two-body interaction between Rydberg atoms.