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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. A » Volume 65 » Issue 3
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Phys. Rev. A 65, 031401(R) (2002) [4 pages]

Measurement of Rydberg-state lifetimes using cold trapped atoms

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A. L. de Oliveira*, M. W. Mancini, V. S. Bagnato, and L. G. Marcassa
Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 369, 13560-970, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil

Received 13 August 2001; published 5 February 2002

In this paper, we demonstrate the use of a cold trapped sample of neutral atoms to perform high-precision measurement of the lifetime for a sequence of Rydberg states of 85Rb. States of principal quantum number lying between n=31 and n=45 are produced and their lifetimes measured using field ionization. Experimental results are compared with existing theories. This is an important demonstration concerning the possibilities of high-precision spectroscopy in the time domain using cold atomic samples.

© 2002 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.65.031401
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevA.65.031401
PACS:
32.80.Pj, 33.80.Ps, 34.50.Rk

*Permanent address: Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de São Carlos and Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina.

 
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