The use of a high-Rydberg lithium beam and a fine mesh target to probe atom-surface interactions

Jonathon A. Sedlacek, Harald K ubler, Charles Ewel +1 more

Matthias Weidemüller, C. Gabbanini, Jean Hare +2 more

Carl A. Kocher, C.L. Shepard

The distribution of principal quantum numbers for high-Rydberg states of lithium, produced in a thermal atomic beam by electron impact excitation, has been determined after passage of the beam through gaseous targets. Target densities were selected for an approximately tenfold reduction of the on-axis flux of Rydberg atoms. The state distribution, determined by electric field ionization, is markedly affected by a target of rapidly rotating polar molecules having rotational energy level separations comparable to the binding energy of the Rydberg valence electron. However, the distribution is not appreciably influenced by rare-gas or slowly rotating polar molecular targets, for which the Rydberg beam spreads as a result of momentum transfer.

Yuanxi Chao, Jiteng Sheng, Jonathon A. Sedlacek +1 more

Sergey A. Saakyan, Nikita Morozov, Vladimir A. Sautenkov +1 more

In this article, effects of the strong long-range interaction of Rydberg atoms on the Autler–Townes splitting spectrum are investigated. Preliminary results are obtained for various excitation times and Rydberg atom densities. The 2S1/2 and 2P1/2 levels of lithium-7 are coupled with strong laser field and probed by another laser via excitation into a 70S Rydberg level. Interactions between Rydberg atoms excited by the probe beam lead to the broadening of the Autler–Townes spectra. At high concentrations of Rydberg atoms, a suppression of the excitation of the Autler–Townes peak at red detuning is observed.

A. Watson

A microscope with unprecedented sensitivity, based on a beam of atoms rather than light or electrons, is a step closer to reality thanks to a German collaboration that has coaxed helium atoms into an intense, needle-fine beam. In contrast to energetic probes such as x-rays or electrons, helium atoms bounce lightly off the target surface without damaging it, so an atom-beam microscope would be a unique instrument for examining surface structures nonintrusively, such as watching the buzzing vibrations on the surface of the minute crystals in metals, say researchers.