Transmission-line decelerators for atoms in high Rydberg states

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the control of helium Rydberg atoms using a transmission-line decelerator, achieving acceleration, deceleration, and guiding with high accelerations and analyzing the effects on trapping potentials.

Contribution

It introduces a novel surface-based transmission-line decelerator for Rydberg atoms and explores the effects of accelerations on trapping efficiency.

Findings

Atoms were successfully accelerated, decelerated, and guided in electric traps.

High accelerations exceeding 10^7 m/s^2 were achieved.

The influence of atom density on trapping efficiency was observed.

Abstract

Beams of helium atoms in Rydberg states with principal quantum number $n=52$, and traveling with an initial speed of 1950 m/s, have been accelerated, decelerated and guided while confined in moving electric traps generated above a curved, surface-based electrical transmission line with a segmented center conductor. Experiments have been performed with atoms guided at constant speed, and with accelerations exceeding $10^7$ m/s$^2$. In each case the manipulated atoms were detected by spatially resolved, pulsed electric field ionization. The effects of tangential and centripetal accelerations on the effective trapping potentials experienced by the atoms in the decelerator have been studied, with the resulting observations highlighting contributions from the density of excited Rydberg atoms to the acceleration, deceleration and guiding efficiencies in the experiments.