The interaction between V-type atoms and a single mode of a microwave cavity is studied in the presence of a strong field driving the second transition of the atoms. With a monochromatic injected field, the ground and excited state populations are calculated analytically, and the dynamic suppression and enhancement of spontaneous emission into the cavity mode are demonstrated, which depend on the atom-driving field detuning and intracavity Rabi frequency, the latter being larger than the cavity damping rate. It is shown that the Autler-Townes doublet can be measured by monitoring the occupation of ground and excited states as a function of atom-cavity field detuning.
Hydrogen atoms with principal quantum number
n=10 have been laser excited to states between
n=44and67 in the presence of a strong microwave field whose frequency $\ensuremath{\omega}$ was adjustable between 5.9 and 8.0 GHz. The excitation probability has been studied as a function of
n, $\ensuremath{\omega}$, microwave field strength and the number of microwave photons absorbed.
We explore the excitation spectra of cold 87Rb atoms to the 55D_3/2 Rydberg state in the presence of microwave (MW) radiation as a function of MW frequency. The spectra reveal several features around the transition-frequencies between adjacent Rydberg states. We argue that some of these features are indicative of variations in the Rydberg excitation probability while others result from the removal of atoms from the cold cloud as a consequence of a MW induced strong dipole-dipole inter-atomic force. Our claim is supported by experimental observations and theoretical modeling.