Guiding Rydberg atoms above surface-based transmission lines

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Guiding Rydberg atoms above surface-based transmission lines

P. Lancuba and S. D. Hogan

Phys. Rev. A 88, 043427 – Published 25 October 2013

Abstract

Beams of helium atoms in selected Rydberg-Stark states with principal quantum number $n = 52$ and electric dipole moments as large as 9910 D have been guided and deflected in the electrostatic fields surrounding surface-based electrical transmission lines. The guided atoms were detected by pulsed-electric-field ionization. Information on their position at the time of ionization was obtained from the flight time of the resulting ions to a microchannel plate detector. Comparison of the experimentally recorded data with the results of numerical calculations of particle trajectories through the guide highlight the sensitivity of the guided signal to the interaction of the atoms with each other and the surrounding 300 K blackbody radiation field.

Received 24 September 2013
Corrected 1 November 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.88.043427

Corrections

1 November 2013

Erratum

Publisher's Note: Guiding Rydberg atoms above surface-based transmission lines [Phys. Rev. A 88, 043427 (2013)]

P. Lancuba and S. D. Hogan

Phys. Rev. A 88, 059902 (2013)

Authors & Affiliations

P. Lancuba and S. D. Hogan

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom

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Issue

Vol. 88, Iss. 4 — October 2013

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Images

Figure 1
Schematic diagram of the experimental setup (not to scale). Note that part of the plane metal plate positioned above the electrical transmission line in the $y$ dimension to form the electrostatic guide has been removed for clarity.Reuse & Permissions
Figure 2
Stark map of the $| m | = 1$ triplet Rydberg states of He for values of $n$ in the range 51–53. The vertical dashed blue line indicates the field of 0.6 V/cm in which photoexcitation was performed in the experiments described.Reuse & Permissions
Figure 3
(a) Curved surface-based electrical transmission line. (b) Geometry in which a metallic plate is placed above the surface of the transmission line to permit the generation of an electric field distribution appropriate for guiding samples in Rydberg states. (c) Electric field distribution in the $x y$ plane in the region between the transmission line and metallic plate depicted in (b). The electric field distribution corresponds to that generated when $V_{p} = V_{c} = - 10$ V and $V_{g 1} = V_{g 2} = 0$ V. Contours of equal electric field strength are displayed in increments of 5 V/cm starting at 5 V/cm.Reuse & Permissions
Figure 4
Time-of-flight distribution of He $^{+}$ ions detected after PFI of He Rydberg atoms initially excited to states with electric dipole moments of 7930 D that were guided using curved transmission-line guides with displacements $Δ x = 2.5$ mm (a–e) and $Δ x = 5.0$ mm (f). The origin of the horizontal axis represents the time at which the ionization pulse was applied. The dotted vertical lines indicate the times at which the maxima of the ion signals corresponding to the unguided atoms ( $τ_{1}$ black) and those guided using the $Δ x = 2.5$ mm ( $τ_{2}$ red) and $Δ x = 5.0$ mm ( $τ_{3}$ blue) transmission-line guides were detected. The red dashed time-of-flight distribution in (e) was recorded with $V_{g} = V_{p} = + 32$ V.Reuse & Permissions
Figure 5
(i) Experimentally recorded, and (ii), (iii) calculated spectra of the $n = 52$ , $| m | = 1$ triplet Rydberg-Stark states of He. In each case (c) is a photoexcitation spectrum in the presence of an electric field of 0.6 V/cm, while (b) and (a) are spectra indicating the states in which atoms are efficiently guided when $V_{c} = V_{p} = - 16$ V and $V_{c} = V_{p} = - 20$ V, respectively. The calculated spectra in (ii-b) and (ii-a) do not account for effects of state changing arising from the interaction of the atoms with the surrounding blackbody radiation field and collisions between the Rydberg atoms in the guide, while those in (iii-b) and (iii-a) incorporate a simple Monte Carlo model that accounts for these effects.Reuse & Permissions

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