Microwave electrometry with Rydberg atoms in a vapour cell using bright atomic resonances

Sedlacek, Jonathon; Schwettmann, Arne; Kübler, Harald; Löw, Robert; Pfau, Tilman; Shaffer, James P.

doi:10.1038/nphys2423

Cited by 568 publications

(507 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…An essential experimental tool in our work has been an optical lattice, which enables spatially resolved photoionization. The storage and manipulation of Rydberg atoms in laser traps is important in several emerging areas, including the realization of exotic phases of matter 20 , field sensors 21 , quantum information processing [22][23][24] and highprecision measurements of fundamental constants 25 . In these applications, photoionization can either represent a mechanism through which Rydberg atoms are lost, or be exploited as a detection method 26,27 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ionization of Rydberg atoms by standing-wave light fields

Anderson

Raithel

2013

Nat Commun

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When electromagnetic radiation induces atomic transitions, the size of the atom is usually much smaller than the wavelength of the radiation, allowing the spatial variation of the radiation field's phase to be neglected in the description of transition rates. Somewhat unexpectedly, this approximation, known as the electric dipole approximation, is still valid for the ionization of micrometre-sized atoms in highly excited Rydberg states by laser light with a wavelength of about the same size. Here we employ a standing-wave laser field as a spatially resolving probe within the volume of a Rydberg atom to show that the photoionization process only occurs near the nucleus, within a volume that is small with respect to both the atom and the laser wavelength. This evidence resolves the apparent inconsistency of the electric dipole approximation's validity for photoionization of Rydberg atoms, and it verifies the theory of light-matter interaction in a limiting case.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ionization of Rydberg atoms by standing-wave light fields

Anderson

Raithel

2013

Nat Commun

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“…Weak microwave fields become detectable in Rydberg-atom-based EIT measurement via microwave-induced distortion and Autler-Townes splitting of EIT lines [2][3][4] . In this weakfield regime, microwave fields that are more than tens of MHz off-resonance from a Rydberg transition become hard detect, because AC level shifts decrease with increasing detuning.…”

Section: Continuous-frequency Microwave Field Measurements In Thementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Significant progress has been made in atom-based measurements of microwave electric fields using electromagnetically induced transparency in room-temperature alkali metal vapors, in which a laser beam addresses highly field-sensitive atomic Rydberg states [1][2][3] . The Rydberg-atom-based measurement approach has garnered broad interest at national metrology institutes for the establishment of new atomic measurement standards of microwave and millimeter-wave electric fields 4 , and holds promise for the development of atomic microwave electric-field sensors and measurement technologies with unprecedented bandwidth and dynamic range.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continuous-frequency measurements of high-intensity microwave electric fields with atomic vapor cells

Anderson

Raithel

2017

Applied Physics Letters

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We demonstrate continuous-frequency electric field measurements of high-intensity microwaves via optical spectroscopy in a small atomic vapor cell. The spectroscopic response of a room-temperature rubidium atomic vapor in a glass cell is investigated and employed for absolute measurements of K a -band microwave electric fields from ∼200 V/m to >1 kV/m over a continuous frequency range of ±1 GHz (15% band coverage). It is established that in strong microwave fields frequency-specific spectral features allow for electric field measurements over a large continuous frequency range.

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“…The resulting rich behavior of Rydberg atoms in electric fields has been exploited for a wide range of experiments. Recently, Rydberg atoms have been developed as sensors to measure microwave electric fields with results superior to traditional methods [1,2]. The Rydberg electron wave function is easily perturbed by the image charge produced in a nearby metal surface and hence Rydberg atoms have been used as a sensitive probe of atomsurface interactions [3] and to measure electric fields near the surface of atom chips [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantum interference in the field ionization of Rydberg atoms

et al. 2015

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We excite ultracold rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap to a coherent superposition of the three |m j | sublevels of the 37d 5/2 Rydberg state. After some delay, during which the relative phases of the superposition components can evolve, we apply an electric field pulse to ionize the Rydberg electron and send it to a detector. The electron traverses many avoided crossings in the Stark levels as it ionizes. The net effect of the transitions at these crossings is to mix the amplitudes of the initial superposition into the same final states at ionization. Similar to a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, the three initial superposition components have multiple paths by which they can arrive at ionization and, since the phases of those paths differ, we observe quantum beats as a function of the delay time between excitation and initiation of the ionization pulse. We present a fully quantum-mechanical calculation of the electron's path to ionization and the resulting interference pattern.

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Microwave electrometry with Rydberg atoms in a vapour cell using bright atomic resonances

Cited by 568 publications

References 36 publications

Ionization of Rydberg atoms by standing-wave light fields

Ionization of Rydberg atoms by standing-wave light fields

Continuous-frequency measurements of high-intensity microwave electric fields with atomic vapor cells

Quantum interference in the field ionization of Rydberg atoms

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