Magic running- and standing-wave optical traps for Rydberg atoms

TL;DR

This paper investigates magic trapping conditions for Rydberg atoms in different optical traps, revealing how trap geometry and Rydberg electron sampling influence coherence times and optimal trap wavelengths.

Contribution

It provides experimental measurements and theoretical analysis of magic trapping conditions for Rydberg atoms in various trap geometries, highlighting the dependence on trap design and Rydberg state properties.

Findings

Optimal magic wavelengths differ between trap types.

Rydberg electron sampling affects coherence and trap performance.

Higher principal quantum numbers increase sampling effects.

Abstract

Magic trapping of ground and Rydberg states, which equalizes the AC Stark shifts of these two levels, enables increased ground-to-Rydberg state coherence times. We measure via photon storage and retrieval how the ground-to-Rydberg state coherence depends on trap wavelength for two different traps and find different optimal wavelengths for a one-dimensional optical lattice trap and a running wave optical dipole trap. Comparison to theory reveals that this is caused by the Rydberg electron sampling different potential landscapes. The observed difference increases for higher principal quantum numbers, where the extent of the Rydberg electron wave function becomes larger than the optical lattice period. Our analysis shows that optimal magic trapping conditions depend on the trap geometry, in particular for optical lattices and tweezers.