Long-lived circular Rydberg states of laser-cooled Rubidium atoms in a cryostat

The exquisite properties of Rydberg levels make them particularly appealing for emerging quantum technologies. The lifetime of low-angular-momentum laser-accessible levels is however limited to a few \(100\,\mu\mathrm{s}\) by optical transitions and microwave blackbody radiation (BBR) induced transf...

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Veröffentlicht in:arXiv.org 2020-03
Hauptverfasser: Cantat-Moltrecht, Tigrane, Cortiñas, Rodrigo, Ravon, Brice, Méhaignerie, Paul, Haroche, Serge, Jean-Michel Raimond, Favier, Maxime, Brune, Michel, Sayrin, Clément
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:The exquisite properties of Rydberg levels make them particularly appealing for emerging quantum technologies. The lifetime of low-angular-momentum laser-accessible levels is however limited to a few \(100\,\mu\mathrm{s}\) by optical transitions and microwave blackbody radiation (BBR) induced transfers at room temperature. A considerable improvement would be obtained with the few \(10\,\mathrm{ms}\) lifetime of circular Rydberg levels in a cryogenic environment reducing the BBR temperature. We demonstrate the preparation of long-lived circular Rydberg levels of laser-cooled Rubidium atoms in a cryostat. We observe a \(3.7\,\mathrm{ms}\) lifetime for the circular level of principal quantum number \(n=52\). By monitoring the transfers between adjacent circular levels, we estimate in situ the microwave BBR temperature to be \((11\pm 2)\,\mathrm{K}\). The measured atomic coherence time (\(270\,\mu\mathrm{s}\)) is limited here only by technical magnetic field fluctuations. This work opens interesting perspectives for quantum simulation and sensing with cold circular Rydberg atoms.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2002.02893