On the control of Rydberg state population with realistic femtosecond laser pulses

TL;DR

This paper computationally explores how to use optimized femtosecond laser pulses to efficiently and selectively excite alkali atoms into Rydberg states, revealing complex dynamics beyond traditional methods.

Contribution

It introduces a method for designing realistic laser pulses to control Rydberg state populations in alkali atoms, considering complex dynamical processes.

Findings

Optimized pulses enable targeted Rydberg state excitation.

Dynamical processes are more complex than traditional two-photon methods.

Proposes feasible pulse shapes with modern waveform synthesizers.

Abstract

We investigate computationally a method for ultrafast preparation of alkali metal atoms in their Rydberg states using a three-dimensional model potential in the single active electron approximation. By optimizing laser pulse shapes that can be generated with modern waveform synthesizers, we propose pulses for controlling the population transfer from the ground state to a preselected set of Rydberg states. Dynamical processes under the optimized pulses are shown to be much more complicated than in the traditional optical two-photon preparation of Rydberg states.