Excitation of Rb Rydberg atoms in MOT inside a microwave cavity

Rydberg atoms are extremely sensitive to electromagnetic fields. In one hand, such sensibility makes them perfect candidates for electromagnetic field sensors. On the other hand, it is very inconvenient, because it makes very challenging to excite them to a single high quantum number state (n > 80), because spurious electromagnetic field can mix the atomic states. In this work, we intend to study the interaction of cold Rydberg atoms with microwave fields inside a microwave cavity. To investigate such interaction, we will build a magneto-optical trap inside a microwave cavity. The ground state atoms will be excited to a Rydberg state two-photon transition inside such cavity, which can be tuned to an given atomic transition between two Rydberg states. The Rydberg atoms will be detected by electromagnetically induced transparency spectroscopy (EIT). The microwave cavity will shield the atoms from blackbody radiation and any other spurious field; besides it will enhance the atom-photon interaction for a given frequency, increasing the sensitivity of the microwave signal. Preliminary results will be presented.