Abstract
The large electric dipole moments associated with highly excited Rydberg states of atoms and molecules make gas-phase samples in these states very well suited to deceleration and trapping using inhomogeneous electric fields. The methods of Rydberg-Stark deceleration with which this can be achieved are reviewed here. Using these techniques, the longitudinal motion of beams of atoms and molecules moving at speeds as high as 2500 m/s have been manipulated, with changes in kinetic energy of up to |Δ E kin|=1.3×10−20 J (|Δ E kin|/e=80 meV or |Δ E kin|/h c=650 cm −1) achieved, while decelerated and trapped samples with number densities of 106– 107 cm −3 and translational temperatures of ∼150 mK have been prepared. Applications of these samples in areas of research at the interface between physics and physical chemistry are discussed.
Highlights
Rydberg states of atoms and molecules All atoms and molecules possess Rydberg states
Where Eion is the energy associated with the Rydberg series limit, RM = R∞ μred/me is the Rydberg constant corrected for the reduced mass, μred = Mme/(M + me), of the atom or molecule for which M is the mass of the ion core and me is the electron mass, δ is a quantum defect which is dependent on the orbital angular momentum quantum number, of the Rydberg electron, and h and c are the Planck constant and speed of light in vacuum, respectively
The presence of Rydberg atoms in this off-axis trap was measured by pulsed electric field ionisation following the application of pulsed ionisation potentials of +2 kV to electrodes 2 and 7 with the resulting H+ ions collected on a microchannel plate (MCP) detector [see Fig. 21(a)]
Summary
Rydberg states of atoms and molecules All atoms and molecules possess Rydberg states. Over that last 10 years experimental techniques have been developed to exploit these long lifetimes and large electric dipole moments to accelerate, decelerate, transport and trap gas-phase samples of atoms and molecules in hydrogenic Rydberg states using inhomogeneous electric fields.
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