Demonstration of Three-Dimensional Electrostatic Trapping of State-Selected Rydberg Atoms

Hogan, S. D.; Merkt, Frédéric

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.100.043001

Cited by 109 publications

(140 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…[2] and also Fig. 14a below) is such that the optically accessible m = 0, ±2 Stark states have even (odd) k values for odd (even) values of n. The range of k states was adjusted from 18-26 at n = 27 to 14-22 at n = 33, so that the average value of the electric dipole moment was approximately the same in all experiments, i.e., about 900 a 0 e, which is ideal for deceleration and trapping [34,36,39].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the past ten years, we have contributed to the development of methods with which translational cold samples of Rydberg atoms and molecules in supersonic beams can be decelerated and stored in electric traps [32][33][34][35]. To obtain experimental information on the evolution of an initial population of Rydberg atoms and molecules selectively prepared in Rydberg-Stark states, we have also measured the decay of the population of trapped Rydberg atoms and molecules for several hundreds of microseconds [34,[36][37][38].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To obtain experimental information on the evolution of an initial population of Rydberg atoms and molecules selectively prepared in Rydberg-Stark states, we have also measured the decay of the population of trapped Rydberg atoms and molecules for several hundreds of microseconds [34,[36][37][38]. These measurements are complementary to recent all-optical measurements of the lifetimes of selected nl Rydberg states following excitation of ultracold atoms in MOT, which reveal the decay of the initially prepared Rydberg states of Rb with principal quantum numbers in the range 30-40 by fluorescence, blackbody-radiation-induced and collisional processes [31] and to earlier studies of the influence of blackbody radiation, in particular ionization, on the lifetimes and other properties of Rydberg states of atoms (see, e.g., Refs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Radiative and collisional processes in translationally cold samples of hydrogen Rydberg atoms studied in an electrostatic trap

Seiler¹,

Agner²,

Pillet³

et al. 2016

J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys.

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Supersonic beams of hydrogen atoms, prepared selectively in Rydberg-Stark states of principal quantum number n in the range between 25 and 35, have been deflected by 90 ○ , decelerated and loaded into off-axis electric traps at initial densities of ≈ 10 6 atoms/cm −3 and translational temperatures of 150 mK. The ability to confine the atoms spatially was exploited to study their decay by radiative and collisional processes. The evolution of the population of trapped atoms was measured for several milliseconds in dependence of the principal quantum number of the initially prepared states, the initial Rydberg-atom density in the trap, and the temperature of the environment of the trap, which could be varied between 7.5 K and 300 K using a cryorefrigerator. At room temperature, the population of trapped Rydberg atoms was found to decay faster than expected on the basis of their natural lifetimes, primarily because of absorption and emission stimulated by the thermal radiation field. At the lowest temperatures investigated experimentally, the decay was found to be multiexponential, with an initial rate scaling as n −4 and corresponding closely to the natural lifetimes of the initially prepared Rydberg-Stark states. The decay rate was found to continually decrease over time and to reach an almost n-independent rate of more than (1 ms) −1 after 3 ms. To analyze the experimentally observed decay of the populations of trapped atoms, numerical simulations were performed which included all radiative processes, i.e., spontaneous emission as well as absorption and emission stimulated by the thermal radiation. These simulations, however, systematically underestimated the population of trapped atoms observed after several milliseconds by almost two orders of magnitude, although they reliably predicted the decay rates of the remaining atoms in the trap. The calculations revealed that the atoms that remain in the trap for the longest times have larger absolute values of the magnetic quantum number m than the optically prepared RydbergStark states, and this observation led to the conclusion that a much more efficient mechanism than a purely radiative one must exist to induce transitions to Rydberg-Stark states of higher m values. While searching for such a mechanism, we discovered that resonant dipole-dipole collisions between Rydberg atoms in the trap represent an extremely efficient way of inducing transitions to states of higher m values. The efficiency of the mechanism is a consequence of the almost perfectly linear nature of the Stark effect at the moderate field strengths used to trap the atoms, which permits cascades of transitions between entire networks of near-degenerate Rydberg-atom-pair states. To include such cascades of resonant dipole-dipole transitions in the numerical simulations, we have generalized the two-state Förster-type collision model used to describe resonant collisions in ultracold Rydberg gases to a multi-state situation. It is only when considering the combined effects of collisional and radiative pr...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Radiative and collisional processes in translationally cold samples of hydrogen Rydberg atoms studied in an electrostatic trap

Seiler¹,

Agner²,

Pillet³

et al. 2016

J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys.

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“…Optical trapping of alkali Rydberg atoms due to the ponderomotive force exerted by spatially modulated light fields has been studied theoretically [19,20,21,22] and experimentally [23]. Static electric and magnetic fields can also be used to trap Rydberg atoms [24,25,26,27,28]. Owing to the exaggerated response of Rydberg atoms to external perturbations, achieving identical trapping potentials for Rydberg and ground state atoms appears, however, challenging.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Many-body physics with alkaline-earth Rydberg lattices

Mukherjee

Millen

Nath

et al. 2011

J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys.

110

121

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Abstract. We explore the prospects for confining alkaline-earth Rydberg atoms in an optical lattice via optical dressing of the secondary core valence electron. Focussing on the particular case of strontium, we identify experimentally accessible magic wavelengths for simultaneous trapping of ground and Rydberg states. A detailed analysis of relevant loss mechanisms shows that the overall lifetime of such a system is limited only by the spontaneous decay of the Rydberg state, and is not significantly affected by photoionization or autoionization. The van der Waals C 6 coefficients for the Sr(5sns 1 S 0 ) Rydberg series are calculated, and we find that the interactions are attractive. Finally we show that the combination of magic-wavelength lattices and attractive interactions could be exploited to generate many-body Greenberger-HorneZeilinger (GHZ) states.

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“…Many other developments relevant for antihydrogen spectroscopy are being reported in the literature. (For example, 2 photon laser cooling [27], coil-gun slowing [28], single atom cooling [29], Rydberg trapping [30], to name just a few).…”

Section: Physics Reach With Antihydrogen Laser Spectroscopymentioning

confidence: 99%

Particle Physics Aspects of Antihydrogen Studies with ALPHA at CERN

Fujiwara¹,

Andresen²,

Bertsche³

et al. 2008

AIP Conference Proceedings

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Abstract. We discuss aspects of antihydrogen studies, that relate to particle physics ideas and techniques, within the context of the ALPHA experiment at CERN's Antiproton Decelerator facility. We review the fundamental physics motivations for antihydrogen studies, and their potential physics reach. We argue that initial spectroscopy measurements, once antihydrogen is trapped, could provide competitive tests of CPT, possibly probing physics at the Planck Scale. We discuss some of the particle detection techniques used in ALPHA. Preliminary results from commissioning studies of a partial system of the ALPHA Si vertex detector are presented, the results of which highlight the power of annihilation vertex detection capability in antihydrogen studies.

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Demonstration of Three-Dimensional Electrostatic Trapping of State-Selected Rydberg Atoms

Cited by 109 publications

References 20 publications

Radiative and collisional processes in translationally cold samples of hydrogen Rydberg atoms studied in an electrostatic trap

Radiative and collisional processes in translationally cold samples of hydrogen Rydberg atoms studied in an electrostatic trap

Many-body physics with alkaline-earth Rydberg lattices

Particle Physics Aspects of Antihydrogen Studies with ALPHA at CERN

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