Magnetically Stimulated Diffusion of Rydberg Gases

TL;DR

This paper investigates a unique magnetic field-stimulated diffusion process in high-angular-momentum Rydberg atoms, providing analytical calculations that align with antihydrogen formation experiments.

Contribution

It presents the first analytical calculation of magnetic field-stimulated diffusion in high-angular-momentum Rydberg atoms, confirming theoretical predictions.

Findings

Diffusion is stimulated, not suppressed, by magnetic fields in these atoms.

Analytical diffusion coefficients match experimental data on antihydrogen formation.

Supports the 1992 prediction by Schmelcher and Cederbaum.

Abstract

The specific kind of diffusion stimulated (rather than suppressed) by the external magnetic field, which was predicted for the first time by Schmelcher and Cederbaum in 1992, is considered here for the case of high-angular-momentum (i.e., approximately "circular") Rydberg atoms. The coefficient of such diffusion was calculated by a purely analytical approach and was found to be well relevant to the experiments on antihydrogen formation.