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High resolution Rydberg spectroscopy of ultracold rubidium atoms
Author(s) -
Grabowski A.,
Heidemann R.,
Löw R.,
Stuhler J.,
Pfau T.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
fortschritte der physik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.469
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1521-3978
pISSN - 0015-8208
DOI - 10.1002/prop.200610310
Subject(s) - rydberg formula , atomic physics , hyperfine structure , rubidium , excited state , excitation , rydberg atom , spectroscopy , rydberg state , laser linewidth , rydberg constant , laser , rydberg matter , stark effect , physics , atom (system on chip) , chemistry , spectral line , optics , ionization , ion , potassium , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , astronomy , computer science , embedded system
We present experiments on two‐photon excitation of 87 Rb atoms to Rydberg states. For this purpose, two continuous‐wave (cw)‐laser systems for both 780 nm and 480 nm have been set up. These systems are optimized to a small linewidth (well below 1 MHz) to get both an efficient excitation process and good spectroscopic resolution. To test the performance of our laser system, we investigated the Stark splitting of Rydberg states. We were able to see for both of the n = 41D finestructure states the electrical field dependent |m j | splitting. To show the ability of spatially selective excitation to Rydberg states, we excited rubidium atoms in an electrical field gradient and investigated both linewidths and lineshifts. Furthermore we were able to excite the atoms selectively from the two hyperfine ground states to Rydberg states. Finally, we investigated the Autler‐Townes splitting of the 5S 1/2 (F = 2)→5P 3/2 (F = 3) transition coupled to the light field via a Rydberg state to determine the Rabi frequency of this excitation step.