Quantum mechanics

Radiation

Atomic physics

Physics

Ionization

Optics

Black-body radiation

Physical review. A/Physical review, A

We report experimental measurements of the rates of blackbody-radiation-induced transitions between high-lying ($n>60$) $S$, $P,$ and $D$ Rydberg levels of rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap using a hybrid field ionization and state-selective depumping technique [Archimi et al., Phys. Rev. A 100, 030501(R) (2019); Simonelli et al., Phys. Rev. A 96, 043411 (2017)]. Our results reveal significant deviations of the measured transition rates from theory for well-defined ranges of the principal quantum number. We assume that the most likely cause for those deviations is a modified blackbody spectrum inside the glass cell in which the magneto-optical trap is formed, and we test this assumption by installing electrodes to create an additional microwave cavity around the cell. From the results, we conclude that it should be possible to use such external cavities to control and suppress the blackbody-radiation-induced transitions.

Measurements of blackbody-radiation-induced transition rates between high-lying <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>S</mml:mi></mml:math> , <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>P</mml:mi></mml:math> , and <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>D</mml:mi></mml:math> Rydberg levels

Measurements of blackbody-radiation-induced transition rates between high-lying S , P , and D Rydberg levels