Coherent manipulation of cold Rydberg atoms near the surface of an atom chip

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the coherent control of Rydberg states in cold rubidium atoms near an atom chip surface, highlighting their potential as sensitive electric field noise sensors through various quantum manipulation techniques.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed study of coherent superpositions of Rydberg states near an atom chip surface, using microwave techniques and analyzing noise effects.

Findings

Successful creation and manipulation of Rydberg superpositions

Observation of Rabi oscillations, Ramsey fringes, and spin-echo signals

Insights into Rydberg atoms as electric field noise sensors

Abstract

Coherent superpositions of the 49s and 48s Rydberg states of cold Rb atoms were studied near the surface of an atom chip. The superpositions were created and manipulated using microwaves resonant with the two-photon 49s-48s transition. Coherent behavior was observed using Rabi flopping, Ramsey sequences, spin-echo and spin-locking. These results are discussed in the context of Rydberg atoms as electric field noise sensors. We consider the coherence of systems quadratically coupled to noise fields with 1/f^k power spectral densities (k \approx 1).