# Interaction of a Laguerre-Gaussian beam with Rydberg atoms

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how the orbital angular momentum of Laguerre-Gaussian beams can be transferred to Rydberg atoms, revealing the significance of the Gaussian beam profile in the transfer process through numerical simulations.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of OAM transfer from LG beams to Rydberg atoms, emphasizing the role of the Gaussian profile often neglected in prior studies.

## Key findings

- OAM can be transferred to Rydberg states via dipole transitions.
- The Gaussian component of the LG beam significantly influences OAM transfer.
- Numerical results show mixing of states with different parities.

## Abstract

Transfer mechanism of orbital angular moment(OAM) of light to trapped ground-state atoms under paraxial approximation is well known. Here we show how optical OAM of a Laguerre-Gaussian(LG) beam under paraxial approximation can be transferred to trapped Rydberg atoms. Optical OAM is shown to be transferable to a Rydberg electronic state in dipole transition. The Gaussian part of the profile of the LG beam, which is generally neglected , is found to have an important effect on the OAM transfer to the Rydberg atoms. Numerical calculations are calculated based on this theory for Rubidium Rydberg atoms trapped in a harmonic potential. Our results exhibit the mixing of final states of different parities.