Intensity landscape and the possibility of magic trapping of alkali Rydberg atoms in infrared optical lattices

TL;DR

This paper explores how the large electron wave function of Rydberg atoms affects their trapping in infrared optical lattices, revealing conditions for stable trapping and identifying magic wavelengths for alkali atoms.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of Rydberg atom trapping considering their extended wave functions and determines magic wavelengths for alkali atoms in infrared lattices.

Findings

Stable trapping at laser intensity maxima when Rydberg orbit lies outside inflection points.

Effective polarizability of Rydberg electrons can be positive or negative depending on intensity landscape.

Magic wavelengths around 10 μm for alkali Rydberg-ground state transitions.

Abstract

Motivated by compelling advances in manipulating cold Rydberg (Ry) atoms in optical traps, we consider the effect of large extent of Ry electron wave function on trapping potentials. We find that when the Ry orbit lies outside inflection points in laser intensity landscape, the atom can stably reside in laser intensity maxima. Effectively, the free-electron AC polarizability of Ry electron is modulated by intensity landscape and can accept both positive and negative values. We apply these insights to determining magic wavelengths for Ry-ground-state transitions for alkali atoms trapped in infrared optical lattices. We find magic wavelengths to be around 10 $\mu \mathrm{m}$, with exact values that depend on Ry state quantum numbers.