Measurement of the5D-level polarizability in laser-cooled Rb atoms

Abstract

We report on accurate measurements of the scalar αS and tensor αT polarizabilities of the 5D fine structure levels 5D 3/2 and 5D 5/2 in Rb. The measured values (in atomic units) αS(5D 3/2 ) = 18400(75), αT (5D 3/2 ) = −750(30), αS(5D 5/2 ) = 18600(76) and αT (5D 5/2 ) = −1440(60) show reasonable correspondence to previously published theoretical predictions, but are more accurate. We implemented laser excitation of the 5D level in a laser cooled cloud of optically polarized Rb-87 atoms placed in a constant electric field.

A simple semiempirical model for the static polarizability of electronically excited atoms and molecules

“…Indeed, even for the first excited state of hydrogen atom, the ratio of the fairly recent numerical quantum Monte Carlo polarizability estimate [138] to the analytical value by McDowell (1976) [136] reaches the value of 1.4. At once, for 5D 3/2 and 5D 5/2 levels of atomic Rb, the discrepancy between the results of analytical calculations [137] and magneto-optical trapping measurements [99] is about 10%. For molecules, the inconsistency in data from different sources can be even greater.…”

“…To begin with, the results of analytical [136,137] and numerical [106,138] calculations for H, C, N, O, Na, Si, P, S, and K atoms supplemented with recent experimental data for atomic Rb [99] were involved for this purpose. Then, we included in the fit data set the results of quantum chemical calculations performed under various multireference approximations for a number of small and medium-sized molecules (H 2 , C 2 , OH, CO, N 2 , O 2 , H 2 O, HO 2 , H 2 S, O 3 , CH 2 O, C 2 H 4 , acetone) [16,24,93,104,108,109,132,133,[139][140][141] and by using the EOM-CC approach for several quite large heterocyclic compounds (pyrimidine, s-tetrazine, uracil, and pnitroaniline).…”

“…The precise knowledge of electric properties of atoms in highly excited electronic states is also an indispensable prerequisite for a number of promising applications based on the electromagnetic trapping of cold atoms (quantum metrology and quantum computing). [15,27,[98][99][100][101][102][103] Besides, excited state electric properties enter the theoretical models of intermolecular and ion-molecule interactions involving excited colliding partners. [40,44,58,59] At long last, the basic electric properties of molecules in their excited electronic configurations gave essential information about the intrinsic features of the electronic structure of these excited states [87,[91][92][93]104] and, accordingly, on the reactivity of electronically excited species.…”

Search for Anderson localization of light by cold atoms in a static electric field

“…where P (x) = 1−1/x+1/x 2 , Q(x) = −1+3/x−3/x 2 , Γ 0 is the decay rate of the excited stated of an isolated atom, r jn = r j − r n , d ejmgj = J e m|D j |J g 0 , and ∆ = δ/Γ 0 is the dimensionless Stark shift. Values of ∆ ∼ 1 are typical for existing experiments with clouds of cold atoms in external electric fields for field intensities of the order of several kV/cm [24]. However, much stronger fields (up to 400 kV/cm) were previously used to study Stark effect in hot atomic beams [25].…”

AC polarizability and photoionization cross-section measurements in an optical lattice

“…1 may become significant. While no theoretical or experimental estimate has been made for the 5D 3/2 dynamic polarizability, the static polarizabilities have been investigated [11][12][13][14], as well as the dynamic polarizability at 778.1 nm for 5D 5/2 [15].…”