The coherent interaction between ensembles of helium Rydberg atoms and microwave fields in the vicinity of a solid-state coplanar waveguide is reported. Rydberg-Rydberg transitions, at frequencies between 25 and 38 GHz, have been studied for states with principal quantum numbers in the range 30-35 by selective electric-field ionization. An experimental apparatus cooled to 100 K was used to reduce effects of blackbody radiation. Inhomogeneous, stray electric fields emanating from the surface of the waveguide have been characterized in frequency- and time-resolved measurements and coherence times of the Rydberg atoms on the order of 250 ns have been determined. These results represent a key element in the development of an experimental architecture to interface Rydberg atoms with solid-state devices.

Studies of ion-molecule reactions at low temperatures are difficult because stray electric fields in the reaction volume affect the kinetic energy of charged reaction partners. We describe a new experimental approach to study ion-molecule reactions at low temperatures and present, as example, a measurement of the H ion prepared in a single rovibrational state at collision energies in the range E col /k B = 5-60 K. To reach such low collision energies, we use a merged-beam approach and observe the reaction within the orbit of a Rydberg electron, which shields the ions from stray fields.The first beam is a supersonic beam of pure ground-state H 2 molecules and the second is a supersonic beam of H 2 molecules excited to Rydberg-Stark states of principal quantum number n selected in the range 20-40. Initially, the two beams propagate along axes separated by an angle of 10• . To merge the two beams, the Rydberg molecules in the latter beam are deflected using a surface-electrode Rydberg-Stark deflector. The collision energies of the merged beams are determined by measuring the velocity distributions of the two beams and they are adjusted by changing the temperature of the pulsed valve used to generate the ground-state H 2 beam and by adapting the electric-potential functions to the electrodes of the deflector. The collision energy is varied down to below E col /k B = 10 K, i.e., below

The ionization energy of ortho-H_{2} has been determined to be E_{I}^{o}(H_{2})/(hc)=124 357.238 062(25)  cm^{-1} from measurements of the GK(1,1)-X(0,1) interval by Doppler-free, two-photon spectroscopy using a narrow band 179-nm laser source and the ionization energy of the GK(1,1) state by continuous-wave, near-infrared laser spectroscopy. E_{I}^{o}(H_{2}) was used to derive the dissociation energy of H_{2}, D_{0}^{N=1}(H_{2}), at 35 999.582 894(25)  cm^{-1} with a precision that is more than one order of magnitude better than all previous results. The new result challenges calculations of this quantity and represents a benchmark value for future relativistic and QED calculations of molecular energies.

A supersonic beam of Rydberg hydrogen atoms has been adiabatically deflected by 90°, decelerated to zero velocity in less than 25  μs, and loaded into an electric trap. The deflection has allowed the suppression of collisions with atoms in the trailing part of the gas pulse. The processes leading to trap losses, i.e., fluorescence to the ground state, and transitions and ionization induced by blackbody radiation have been monitored over several milliseconds and quantitatively analyzed.

A surface-electrode decelerator and deflector for Rydberg atoms and molecules has been developed with the goal of performing collisional experiments. Translationally cold H2 molecules in a supersonic beam were excited to Rydberg-Stark states of principal quantum number n = 31, loaded into electric traps moving at constant speed above the surface of a bent printed circuit board, and deflected from the original direction of the supersonic beam by an angle of 10 •. The phase-space characteristics of the deflected beam were characterized by measuring the time-of-flight distribution and images of the Rydberg molecules and comparing them to the results of numerical particle-trajectory simulations. More than 1000 H2 molecules were deflected per experimental cycle at a repetition rate of 25 Hz. The phase-space characteristics of the deflector make it attractive to study ion-molecule reactions at low collision energies.