22 research outputs found
Millimeter-Wave Spectroscopy of Cold Rb Rydberg Atoms in a Magneto-Optical Trap: Quantum Defects of the \u3ci\u3ens\u3c/i\u3e, \u3ci\u3enp\u3c/i\u3e, and \u3ci\u3end\u3c/i\u3e Series
By using a magneto-optical trap we have measured the Rb ns-(n+1)s and nd(j)-(n+1)d(j) two-photon millimeter-wave transitions for 32less than or equal tonless than or equal to37, observing 100-kHz-wide resonances, in spite of the trap\u27s 10 G/cm magnetic-field gradient, in which one might expect to observe resonances 5 MHz wide. This resolution is possible because of the similarity of the g(j) factors in the initial and final states. Under the same conditions, the single-photon ns-np resonances are similar to5 MHz wide. To make useful measurements of these intervals, we turned off the trap field and used the 300-K atoms of the background Rb vapor. Together these measurements improve the accuracy of the s, p, and d quantum defects by an order of magnitude
Resonant Processes in a Frozen Gas
We present a theory of resonant processes in a frozen gas of atoms
interacting via dipole-dipole potentials that vary as , where is
the interatomic separation. We supply an exact result for a single atom in a
given state interacting resonantly with a random gas of atoms in a different
state. The time development of the transition process is calculated both on-
and off-resonance, and the linewidth with respect to detuning is obtained as a
function of time . We introduce a random spin Hamiltonian to model a dense
system of resonators and show how it reduces to the previous model in the limit
of a sparse system. We derive approximate equations for the average effective
spin, and we use them to model the behavior seen in the experiments of Anderson
et al. and Lowell et al. The approach to equilibrium is found to be
proportional to ), where the constant is explicitly related to the system's parameters.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figure
Radiative charge transfer lifetime of the excited state of (NaCa)
New experiments were proposed recently to investigate the regime of cold
atomic and molecular ion-atom collision processes in a special hybrid
neutral-atom--ion trap under high vacuum conditions. The collisional cooling of
laser pre-cooled Ca ions by ultracold Na atoms is being studied. Modeling
this process requires knowledge of the radiative lifetime of the excited
singlet A state of the (NaCa) molecular system. We calculate
the rate coefficient for radiative charge transfer using a semiclassical
approach. The dipole radial matrix elements between the ground and the excited
states, and the potential curves were calculated using Complete Active Space
Self-Consistent field and M\"oller-Plesset second order perturbation theory
(CASSCF/MP2) with an extended Gaussian basis, 6-311+G(3df). The semiclassical
charge transfer rate coefficient was averaged over a thermal Maxwellian
distribution. In addition we also present elastic collision cross sections and
the spin-exchange cross section. The rate coefficient for charge transfer was
found to be cm/sec, while those for the elastic and
spin-exchange cross sections were found to be several orders of magnitude
higher ( cm/sec and cm/sec,
respectively). This confirms our assumption that the milli-Kelvin regime of
collisional cooling of calcium ions by sodium atoms is favorable with the
respect to low loss of calcium ions due to the charge transfer.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures; v.2 - conceptual change
Investigation of cold Rb Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap
We present our results on the experiments with cold Rb Rydberg atoms in a
magneto-optical trap (MOT). Characteristic features of our experiment were the
excitation of Rydberg atoms in a small volume within the cold atom cloud and
sorting of the measured signals and spectra over the number of registered
Rydberg atoms. We have measured the effective lifetime of the Rydberg state
37P, as well as its polarizability in a weak electric field. The results are in
good agreement with the theoretical calculations. We have shown that
localization of the small excitation volume around the zero-magnetic-field
point makes possible to increase the spectral resolution and to obtain narrow
microwave resonances in Rydberg atoms without switching off the MOT quadrupole
magnetic field. We have measured the dependence of the amplitude of the
dipole-dipole interaction resonances on the number of Rydberg atoms, which has
a linear character and agrees with the theory for weak dipole-dipole
interaction.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. To appear in JETP, 2009. Typo in eq.(7) corrected
in v
Observation of Nonspreading Wave Packets in an Imaginary Potential
We propose and experimentally demonstrate a method to prepare a nonspreading
atomic wave packet. Our technique relies on a spatially modulated absorption
constantly chiseling away from an initially broad de Broglie wave. The
resulting contraction is balanced by dispersion due to Heisenberg's uncertainty
principle. This quantum evolution results in the formation of a nonspreading
wave packet of Gaussian form with a spatially quadratic phase. Experimentally,
we confirm these predictions by observing the evolution of the momentum
distribution. Moreover, by employing interferometric techniques, we measure the
predicted quadratic phase across the wave packet. Nonspreading wave packets of
this kind also exist in two space dimensions and we can control their amplitude
and phase using optical elements.Comment: 4 figure
Dipole Blockade and Quantum Information Processing in Mesoscopic Atomic Ensembles
We describe a technique for manipulating quantum information stored in
collective states of mesoscopic ensembles. Quantum processing is accomplished
by optical excitation into states with strong dipole-dipole interactions. The
resulting ``dipole blockade'' can be used to inhibit transitions into all but
singly excited collective states. This can be employed for a controlled
generation of collective atomic spin states as well as non-classical photonic
states and for scalable quantum logic gates. An example involving a cold
Rydberg gas is analyzed
Formation of Giant Quasibound Cold Diatoms by Strong Atom-Cavity Coupling
We show that giant quasi-bound diatomic complexes, whose size is typically
hundreds of nm, can be formed by intra-cavity cold diatom photoassociation or
photodissociation in the strong atom-cavity coupling regime.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Macrodimers: ultralong range Rydberg molecules
We study long range interactions between two Rydberg atoms and predict the
existence of ultralong range Rydberg dimers with equilibrium distances of many
thousand Bohr radii. We calculate the dispersion coefficients ,
and for two rubidium atoms in the same excited level , and find
that they scale like , and , respectively. We show that
for certain molecular symmetries, these coefficients lead to long range
potential wells that can support molecular bound levels. Such macrodimers would
be very sensitive to their environment, and could probe weak interactions. We
suggest experiments to detect these macrodimers.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to PR
Precision bond lengths for Rydberg Matter clusters KN (N = 19, 37, 61 and 91) in excitation levels n = 4 - 8 from rotational radio-frequency emission spectra
Clusters of the electronically excited condensed matter Rydberg Matter (RM)
are planar and six-fold symmetric with magic numbers N = 7, 19, 37, 61 and 91.
The bond distances in the clusters are known with a precision of +- 5% both
from theory and Coulomb explosion experiments. Long series of up to 40
consecutive lines from rotational transitions in such clusters are now observed
in emission in the radio-frequency range 7-90 MHz. The clusters are produced in
five different vacuum chambers equipped with RM emitters. The most prominent
series with B = 0.9292 +- 0.0001 MHz agrees accurately with expectation (within
2%) for the planar six-fold symmetric cluster K19 in excitation level n = 4.
Other long series agree even better with K19 at n = 5 and 6. The ratio between
the interatomic distance and the theoretical electron orbit radius (the
dimensional ratio) for K19 in n = 4 is found to be 2.8470 +- 0.0003. For
clusters K19 (n = 6) and K37 (n = 7 and 8) the dimensional ratio 2.90 is the
highest value that is found, which happens to be exactly the theoretical value.
Clusters K61 and K91 in n = 5 and 6 have slightly lower dimensional ratios.
This is expected since the edge effects are smaller. Intensity alternations are
observed of approximately 7:3. The nuclear spins interact strongly with the
magnetic field from the orbiting electrons. Spin transitions are observed with
energy differences corresponding accurately (within 0.6%) to transitions with
apparent total (delta)F = -3 at excitation levels n = 5 and 6. The angular
momentum coupling schemes in the clusters are complex but well understood.Comment: 37 pages, 14 figure