Studies Involving Atoms in High Rydberg States

William Marsh Rice University, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

The control and manipulation of the electronic states of atoms will be explored using as a laboratory Rydberg atoms in which one electron is excited to a preselected very-high-lying initial state. The targeted final states will be created using carefully-tailored sequences of short electric field pulses. Localized electronic states will be engineered whose motion mirrors that of a classical electron moving in both quasi-one-dimensional and near-circular orbits. The response of such atoms to periodic trains of pulses will be studied to explore their dynamics, the level of control that can be achieved by varying the driving field, the transition from classical to quantum chaos, and the application of the tools of classical non-linear dynamics to atomic systems. Techniques to store/retrieve information in atoms will be evaluated. The role of collisions or electrical noise in destroying such information will be also examined. Rydberg atom-surface interactions will be investigated under controlled conditions to understand how atoms evolve as they approach a surface and to examine the charge transfer processes that occur. Rydberg atom interactions with nanoscale particles deposited on the surface will also be studied. Rydberg atoms promise valuable new insights into the nano-/meso-scale world and systems such as quantum wells and quantum dots that play a prominent role in emerging technologies related to quantum computing, quantum information processing, and information storage/retrieval. The work will furnish new understanding of physics in the ultra-fast ultra-intense regime and speak to the engineering of low-lying atomic (and molecular) states at the sub-nanoscale using the new generation of attosecond pulse lasers. Rydberg atoms form a bridge between the quantum and classical worlds permitting exploration of the whole quantum-to-classical crossover. The Rydberg atom-surface studies will furnish new insights into charge transfer processes at surfaces which form the basis of many practical spectroscopies used to characterize surfaces and of many surface chemical reactions. The research will contribute to the training of the scientific workforce by providing students with a solid foundation in many areas of physics together with a diverse array of experimental skills in many technologically-relevant areas ranging from high-vacuum systems and lasers to high-speed electronics and computerized data acquisition and control systems.