Coherent superpositions of the 49s and 48s Rydberg states of cold Rb atoms
were studied near the surface of an atom chip. The superpositions were created
and manipulated using microwaves resonant with the two-photon 49s-48s
transition. Coherent behavior was observed using Rabi flopping, Ramsey
sequences, spin-echo and spin-locking. These results are discussed in the
context of Rydberg atoms as electric field noise sensors. We consider the
coherence of systems quadratically coupled to noise fields with 1/f^k power
spectral densities (k \approx 1).Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure
