Driving millimeter-wave transitions in ultracold Sr Rydberg atoms

POSTER

Abstract

Transitions between Rydberg states can be driven very efficiently with millimeter-wave radiation. This has been used for coherent control of electronic Rydberg states and for precision measurements. In this poster we will describe progress towards driving millimeter-wave transitions in ultracold Sr Rydberg atoms. We focus on millimeter-wave excitation of 5$sns$ ${}^3S_1$ Rydberg states to nearby ${}^3P_j$ states and ${}^3S_1$/${}^3D_j$ states with one and two-photon excitation respectively. A major motivation of the development of this technique is the study of vibrational wave-packet dynamics in ultralong-range Rydberg molecules.

*Research supported by the AFOSR (FA9550-14-1-0007), the NSF (1600059), the Robert A, Welch Foundation (C-0734 and C-1844)

Authors

  • S.K. Kanungo

    • Rice University
  • Y. Lu

    • Rice University
  • R. Ding

    • Rice University
  • Joseph Whalen

    • Rice University
  • H.Y. Rathore

    • Rice University
  • F.B. Dunning

    • Rice University
  • Thomas Killian

    • Rice University
    • Rice University and Rice Center for Quantum Materials