A sensitive detection of high Rydberg atom with large dipole moment**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 91421305, 91121005, and 11674359) and the National Key Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2013CB922003).

Abstract

We report a sensitive detection of high Rydberg atom with large dipole moment utilizing its deflection near a pair of parallel cylindrical copper rods which are oppositely charged. When the low-field seeking state Rydberg atoms fly across the gradient electric field formed by the pair of rods, they will be pushed away from the rods while the high-field seeking state ones will be attracted towards the rods. These atoms will form different patterns on an ion imaging system placed downwards at the end of the rods. The spatial distribution of the deflected atoms on the imaging system is also simulated, in good agreement with the experimental results, from which we can deduce the quantum state information of the excited atoms. This state resolvable Rydberg atom detection can be used for the dynamics research of the dipole–dipole interaction between atoms with large dipole moments.