Magic wavelengths for the $5s-18s$ transition in rubidium

TL;DR

This paper calculates and experimentally verifies magic wavelengths for the $5s-18s$ transition in rubidium, enabling precise trapping of Rydberg atoms for quantum information applications.

Contribution

The authors develop high-precision theoretical calculations of magic wavelengths and validate them through experimental measurements for rubidium's $5s-18s$ transition.

Findings

Calculated magic wavelengths closely match experimental measurements.

Validated theoretical method for predicting magic wavelengths.

Facilitates improved trapping of Rydberg atoms in quantum devices.

Abstract

Magic wavelengths, for which there is no differential ac Stark shift for the ground and excited state of the atom, allow trapping of excited Rydberg atoms without broadening the optical transition. This is an important tool for implementing quantum gates and other quantum information protocols with Rydberg atoms, and reliable theoretical methods to find such magic wavelengths are thus extremely useful. We use a high-precision all-order method to calculate magic wavelengths for the $5s-18s$ transition of rubidium, and compare the calculation to experiment by measuring the light shift for atoms held in an optical dipole trap at a range of wavelengths near a calculated magic value.