Forces on alkali Rydberg atoms due to non-linearly polarized light

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel, lossless method to exert trapping forces on alkali Rydberg atoms using non-linearly polarized light, leveraging vector polarizability to enable long-term trapping for quantum applications.

Contribution

It proposes a robust technique utilizing vector polarizability induced by non-linear polarization, significantly enhancing trapping capabilities for Rydberg atoms without compromising their lifetime.

Findings

Vector polarizability is much larger than scalar and tensor polarizabilities.

The method enables long-term trapping of Rydberg atoms.

Potential applications in quantum simulation and hybrid state generation.

Abstract

Trapped Rydberg atoms are highly promising candidates for quantum science experiments. While several approaches have been put forward to exert (trapping) forces on isolated Rydberg atoms, a widely applicable lossless technique is lacking. This paper proposes a robust versatile alternative technique that avoids lifetime compromising losses. Our proposal leverages the vector polarizability, which is induced by non-linearly polarized light and is shown to be several orders of magnitude larger than the usual scalar and tensor polarizabilities for commonly used alkali Rydberg series such as the $nS$, $nP$, and $nD$ series with principal quantum number $n$ as low as 30. The resulting force can be used to trap isolated Rydberg atoms over long times, which constitutes a key advance that is expected to impact quantum simulation applications, as well as to generate large light--Rydberg-atom hybrid states, which possess non-trivial position-dependent forces.