Collisional decoherence in very-high- n Rydberg atoms

Collisional interactions represent a major source of decoherence for a gas of Rydberg atoms. We investigate the irreversible dephasing of coherently excited Rydberg wavepackets due to decoherence in collisions with ambient rare gas atoms. We show that the rate of decoherence provides a sensitive too...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms Beam interactions with materials and atoms, 2005-05, Vol.233 (1), p.48-55
Main Authors: Reinhold, C.O., Burgdörfer, J., Dunning, F.B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Collisional decoherence
Rydberg wavepackets
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Collisional interactions represent a major source of decoherence for a gas of Rydberg atoms. We investigate the irreversible dephasing of coherently excited Rydberg wavepackets due to decoherence in collisions with ambient rare gas atoms. We show that the rate of decoherence provides a sensitive tool for measuring quasi-elastic electron-atom (or molecule) collisions at energies extending down to micro electron volts. We present proof of principle calculations for n ≃ 388 potassium Rydberg atoms in an ambient gas of xenon atoms.
ISSN:0168-583X
1872-9584
DOI:10.1016/j.nimb.2005.03.085