Investigation of cold rubidium Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap

This paper reports on the results of experiments with cold rubidium Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap. The specific feature of the experiments is the excitation of Rydberg atoms in a small volume within a cloud of cold atoms and the sorting of measured signals and spectra according to the number of detected Rydberg atoms. The effective lifetime of the 37P Rydberg state and its polarizability in a weak electric field are measured. The results obtained are in good agreement with theoretical calculations. It is demonstrated that the localization of the excitation volume in the vicinity of the zero-magnetic-field point makes it possible to improve the spectral resolution and to obtain narrow microwave resonances in Rydberg atoms without switching off the quadrupole magnetic field of the trap. The dependence of the amplitude of dipole-dipole interaction resonances in Rydberg atoms on the number of atoms is measured. This dependence exhibits a linear behavior and agrees with the theory for a weak dipole-dipole interaction.     

Excitation transfer into bound and continuum states investigated by optical and electron spectroscopy

We present energy spectra of electrons formed in the reaction of He(2³ S, 2¹ S) with NO₂ which have significantly improved counting statistics and resolution compared to earlier work. Further, we show spectra of the fluorescence light emitted in these reactions. The data are recorded in the same molecular beam apparatus as the electron spectra. For the metastable singlet state He(2¹ S) the spectra have not been measured before. We find that in addition to ionization excitation transfer takes place into Rydberg states of NO₂**. Subsequently, the highly excited NO₂** molecules dissociate into NO and atomic O* Rydberg atoms.     

铯47D精细能级超冷里德堡原子自由演化的动力学研究

用连续窄线宽激光器将超冷铯里德堡原子分别激发到47D_3/2, 47D_5/2精细态, 观察了处于里德堡精细态的铯原子向超冷铯等离子体自由演化的过程, 详细对比了不同精细态的铯里德堡原子预电离时间、电离速率以及等离子体的转化效率. 将里德堡原子快速转化为等离子体的过程解释为局域势阱内由预电离产生的电子与里德堡原子的快速碰撞导致的雪崩电离.     

外电场中Li原子回归谱的分岔效应

半经典闭合轨道在外场和激光参数的某些值附近发生分岔，导致波函数的发散，使原有的半经典闭合轨道理论失效-计算了高激发的Li原子在标度能量为ε=-2-94，标度电场在135 -86-1/4<160-11范围内光吸收谱的Fourier变换，分析了轨道分岔现 象及其影 响，并采用了一种适用于不同能域的统一近似方法修正了分岔点附近波函数-计算中考虑了 原子实多重散射组合回归效应，并把所得回归谱与用标准半经典闭合轨道理论对Li原子及H 原子的计算结果相比较，证明了轨道分岔效应的重要性- 关键词： 分岔 统一近似 半经典闭合轨道理论 回归谱     

铯原子里德伯态精细结构测量

里德伯态光谱是测量里德伯态能级结构和中性原子间相互作用的常用技术手段,特别是高精度的里德伯光谱,可以测量室温原子气室中由偶极相互作用等导致的原子能级频移.在实验中利用反向的852 nm激光和509 nm激光实现了室温原子气室中铯原子6S_(1/2)—6P_(3/2)—57S(D)跃迁的级联双光子激发,实现了里德伯态原子的制备.基于阶梯型电磁诱导透明获得了铯原子里德伯态的高分辨光谱.实验中,基于速度选择的射频边带调制技术,对光谱信号进行了频率标定,测量了铯原子里德伯态57D_(3/2)和57D_(5/2)的精细分裂,分裂间隔为(354.7±2.5)MHz,与理论计算结果基本一致.速度选择的射频调制光谱可以实现里德伯态原子的能级分裂测量,其测量精度对于单光子跃迁的绝对激光频率不敏感;实验中影响57D_(3/2)和57D_(5/2)精细分裂间隔测量精度的主要因素是功率加宽导致的电磁感应透明信号的展宽和509 nm激光频率扫描的非线性.     

Observation of the Dipole Blockade Effect in Detecting Rydberg Atoms by the Selective Field Ionization Method

The dipole blockade effect at laser excitation of mesoscopic ensembles of Rydberg atoms lies in the fact that the excitation of one atom to a Rydberg state blocks the excitation of other atoms due to the shift in the collective energy levels of interacting Rydberg atoms. It is used to obtain the entangled qubit states based on single neutral atoms in optical traps. In this paper, we present our experimental results on the observation of the dipole blockade for mesoscopic ensembles of 1–5 atoms when they are detected by the selective field ionization method. We have investigated the spectra of the three-photon laser excitation 5S1/2 → 5P3/2 → 6S1/2 → nP3/2 of cold Rydberg Rb atoms in a magneto-optical trap. We have found that for mesoscopic ensembles this method allows only a partial dipole blockage to be observed. This is most likely related to the presence of parasitic electric fields reducing the interaction energy of Rydberg atoms, the decrease in the probability of detecting high states, and the strong angular dependence of the interaction energy of Rydberg atoms in a single interaction volume.     

Continuous wave field ionization laser spectroscopy

A new technique is described which allows Doppler-free, isotope-selective excitation of atoms by continuous wave laser radiation and continuous ionization of the atoms by an electric field. The atoms are excited to high Rydberg states in an electric-field-free region of a collimated atomic beam. Because the lifetimes of Rydberg atoms are long they can reach a spatially separated region of the atomic beam where they are ionized by a continuous electric field with a probability of unity. In the case of lithium we obtained a 10³ times larger ion signal by field ionization of Rydberg atoms than by direct photoionization from low excited states.     

弱射频场中Rydberg原子的电磁感应透明

在铯原子室温蒸气池中研究了弱射频场中Rydberg原子阶梯型三能级系统的电磁感应透明(EIT)效应.铯原子基态6S_(1/2)、第一激发态6P_(3/2)和Rydberg 48D_(5/2)态形成阶梯型三能级系统,探测光共振作用于6S_(1/2)(F=4)→6P_(3/2)(F′=5)的跃迁,耦合光在Rydberg跃迁线6P_(3/2)(F′=5)→48D_(5/2)附近扫描,形成Rydberg原子EIT.当对铯原子施加一个80 MHz的弱射频电场时,48D_(5/2)Rydberg原子的EIT光谱发生Stark频移和分裂,同时产生由射频场调制Rydberg能级的偶数级边带,测量结果与Floquet理论模拟的结果相符合.同时,改变弱射频电场的频率研究了铯Rydberg能级的自电离效应对Rydberg原子Stark谱的影响,据此,我们提出将电极板置于铯原子蒸气池内的方案以减少自电离效应的影响.在弱射频Stark谱中,mj=5/2的Stark谱与mj=1/2,3/2的二级边带形成多个能级交叉,这些能级交叉点提供了一种基于原子的精确校准射频电场的新方法.     

Reactions of excited atoms and molecules with atoms and molecules

Ionizing collisions of long lived excited particles with atoms and molecules are studied by a cross beam technique. For the first time reactions of atoms in high Rydberg states are included in the investigation. In this paper we report relative cross sections for the production of the ions RH⁺, RH ₂ ⁺ , and H ₂ ⁺ by collisions of excited rare gas atoms R^* with H₂. With HD as the target molecule the isotope effect for the production of RD⁺ and RH⁺ has been determined. In the case of argon and krypton, ions are produced only by the high Rydberg states, whereas in the case of helium and neon only the metastable states contribute to a measurable extent. The data indicate, that the reaction mechanism is different in principle for metastable and highly excited atoms. Simple models are proposed to explain the experimental results.     

High resolution laser spectroscopy of Ba Rydberg atoms

The purpose of the present paper is to illustrate some selected aspects of high resolution laser spectroscopy of Rydberg atoms, rather than giving an extensive review of the state of the art. The following topics will be discussed: (i) Excitation and detection of Ba Rydberg atoms with principal quantum numbers up ton≲300; (ii) Stark effect and atomic diamagnetism of high-n Ba Rydberg states in thel-mixing region, (iii) Resonance in singlet-triplet mixing of 6snp¹P₁ and 6snd¹D₂ Ba Rydberg states deduced from hyperfine structure measurements.     

Dynamics of resonant energy transfer in a cold Rydberg gas

We investigate excitation transfer and migration processes in a cold gas of rubidium Rydberg atoms. Density-dependent measurements of the resonant population exchange for atoms initially excited into the 32P_3/2(|m_J|=3/2) state are compared with a Monte Carlo model for coherent energy transfer. The model is based on simulations of small atom subensembles involving up to ten atoms interacting via coherent pair processes. The role of interatomic mechanical forces due to the resonant dipole-dipole interaction is investigated. Good agreement is found between the experimental data and the predictions of the model, from which we infer that atomic motion has negligible influence on the energy transfer up to Rydberg densities of 10⁸ cm^-3, that the system has to be described in terms of many-body dynamics, and that the energy transfer preserves coherence on microsecond timescales.     

Collisional and radiative processes with participation of highly excited states of atoms and molecules

A number of processes in which highly excited states of atoms and molecules participate are investigated. These processes are of interest for the kinetics of a low-temperature plasma, for atomic and molecular spectroscopy, and for astrophysics. A quasiclassical theory is developed for transitions between Rydberg states with change of the principal quantum number, and also for the processes of direct and associative ionization of highly excited atoms, which result from collisions between a neutral particle and its atomic core. The state of the inner electrons of a quasimolecular (molecular) ion is not altered by transitions of the outer electrons. Specific calculations are carried out for the case of the collision of hydrogen H(n) with helium He (1s²) atoms. It is shown that the cross sections and the rate constants of these processes are determined in this case by the mechanism investigated in the paper, and not by scattering of the Rydberg electron by the neutral particle. The cross sections for dipole excitation and dissociation of molecular ions from high vibrational energy levels by electron impact is calculated in the Born-Coulomb approximation. The cross sections and the rates of dissociative and three-particle attachment of electrons to ions are determined. The processes of autoionization and autodissociation decay of Rydberg states of vibrationally excited molecules are determined. Also investigated are radiative transitions near the dissociation limit of diatomic molecular ions and neutral molecules, viz., photodissociation and radiative decay of high vibrational levels, and photodissociation and translational (inverse-bremsstrahlung) absorption in collision of atomic particles.Translated from Trudy Ordena Lenina Fizicheskogo Instituta im. P. Lebedeva AN SSSR, Vol. 145, pp. 80–130, 1984.     

Model Potential Calculations of Oscillator Strength Spectra of Rydberg Li Atoms in External Fields

By combining the B-spline basis set with model potential (B-spline + MP), we present oscillator strength spectra of Rydberg Li atoms in external fields. The photoabsorption spectra are analyzed. Over the narrow energy ranges considered in this paper, the structure of the spectra can be independent of the initial state chosen for a given atom. Our results are in good agreement with previous high-precision experimental data and theoretical calculations, where the R-matrix approach together with multichannel quantum defect theory (R-matrix+MQDT) was used. It is suggested that the present methods can be applied to deal with the oscillator strength spectra of Rydberg atoms in crossed electric and magnetic fields.     

Photon,quantum and collective,effects from rydberg atoms in cavities

I review some theories of the interaction ofN Rydberg atoms interacting collectively with radiation in microwave cavities. The radiation may be incoherent (black body) radiation or it may be coherent. In the former case theories of the steady state inversion and of the superradiance from initially inverted atoms in low-Q cavities agree well with experimental observations. In the latter case in low-Q cavities ‘phase transitions’ of both first and second order types are predicted and should be observable by monitoring the output of an atomic beam by an atomic ionisation detector. The first order transition which occurs at opposite detunings of the cavity and atoms from the frequency of the coherent driving field is of “optically” bistable type but hysteresis is suppressed by quantum fluctuations which can be large in the cavity field close to the transition. I also review a theory of the spectra from single atoms in cavities ofarbitrary Q containing a few microwave photons. A transition from a single peaked Lorentzian spectrum at low-Q to a double-peaked spectrum forQ≃10⁶ is predicted and peaks representing one or more photon transitions of the Jaynes-Cummings model are also expected to be observable at these or largerQ values. The collective theories are all based onN atom Dicke type models driven by the coherent or incoherent field. Substantial squeezing of the fluorescent radiation field from these Dicke models is also predicted and may be observable with Rydberg atoms.     

Scaled-energy spectroscopy of a ｜M｜= 1 Rydberg barium atom in an electric field

We observe strong energy-dependent quantum defects in the scaled-energy Stark spectra for |M| = 1 Rydberg states of barium atoms at three scaled energies: ε = 2.000,ε = 2.500 and ε = 3.000.In an attempt to explain the observations,theoretical calculations of closed orbit theory based on a model potential including core effect are performed for non-hydrogenic atoms.While such a potential has been uniformly successful for alkali atoms with a single valence electron,it fails to match experimental results for barium atoms in the 6snp Rydberg states with two valence electrons.Our study points out that this discrepancy is due to the strong perturbation from the 5d8p state,which voids the simple approximation for constant quantum defects of principle quantum number n.     

Electron spectroscopy of autoionizing states of nitrogen atoms

During excitation of N₂, NO and N₂O molecules by fast neutral 1¹S helium atoms, highly excited molecular states are formed which yield, through predissociation, autoionizing nitrogen atoms. The energy of electrons released in autoionization was measured and the energy and plausible spectroscopic assignment of autoionizing levels was determined. The excited levels belong to Rydberg series converging to the N⁺(¹D) series limit. Besides molecular states derived by correlation of the final atoms, highly excited molecular parent states are also discussed.     

332—362nm范围内CF2Cl自由基的共振增强多光子电离研究

用CF₂Cl₂分子直流脉冲放电的方法产生CF₂Cl自由基，结合共振增强多光子电离(REMPI)技术，测量了332—362nm波长范围内CF₂Cl自由基的(2+1)REMPI光谱，分析并标识了4s Rydberg态带源位于(ν_0—0=55371cm^-1)，两个被激活振动模ω′₃(CF₂剪式振动模)和ω₄′(OPL 关键词：     

Effect of photoions on the line shape of the Förster resonance lines and microwave transitions in cold rubidium Rydberg atoms

Experiments are carried out on the spectroscopy of the Förster resonance lines Rb(37P) + Rb(37P) → Rb(37S) + Rb(38S) and microwave transitions nP → n′S, n′D between Rydberg states of cold rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Under ordinary conditions, all spectra exhibit a linewidth of 2–3 MHz irrespective of the interaction time between atoms or between atoms and microwave radiation, although the limit resonance width should be determined by the inverse interaction time. The analysis of experimental conditions has shown that the main source of line broadening is the inhomogeneous electric field of cold photoions that are generated under the excitation of initial nP Rydberg states by broadband pulsed laser radiation. The application of an additional electric-field pulse that rapidly extracts photoions produced by a laser pulse leads to a considerable narrowing of lines of microwave resonances and the Förster resonance. Various sources of line broadening in cold Rydberg atoms are analyzed.     

Efficient production of Rydberg positronium

We demonstrate experimentally the production of Rydberg positronium (Ps) atoms in a two-step process, comprising incoherent laser excitation, first to the 2(3)P state and then to states with principal quantum numbers ranging from 10 to 25. We find that excitation of 2(3)P atoms to Rydberg levels occurs very efficiently (~90%) and that the ~25% overall efficiency of the production of Rydberg atoms is determined almost entirely by the spectral overlap of the primary excitation laser and the Doppler broadened width of the 1 (3)S-2(3)P transition. The observed efficiency of Rydberg Ps production can be explained if stimulated emission back to the 2P states is suppressed, for example, by intermixing of the Rydberg state Stark sublevels. The efficient production of long-lived Rydberg Ps in a high magnetic field may make it possible to perform direct measurements of the gravitational free fall of Ps.     

Stark spectrum of barium in highly excited Rydberg states

We present observations of Stark spectra of barium in highly excited Rydberg states in the energy region around n = 35. The one-photon excitation concerns the π transition. The observed Stark spectra at electric fields ranging from 0 to 60 V·cm-1 are well explained by the diagonalization of the Hamiltonian incorporating the core effects. From the Stark maps, the anti-crossings between energy levels are identified experimentally and theoretically. The time of flight spectra at the specified Stark states are recorded, where the deceleration and acceleration of barium atoms are observed. This is very consistent with the prediction derived from the Stark maps from the point of view of energy conservation.