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Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 163007 (2005) [4 pages]

Engineering Very-High-n Polarized Rydberg States Using Tailored Half-Cycle-Pulse Sequences

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W. Zhao1, J. J. Mestayer1, J. C. Lancaster1, F. B. Dunning1, C. O. Reinhold2,4, S. Yoshida3, and J. Burgdörfer3,4
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005-1892, USA
2Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6372, USA
3Institute for Theoretical Physics, Vienna University of Technology, A1040 Vienna, Austria, EU
4Department of Physics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1200, USA

Received 15 June 2005; published 12 October 2005

We show that strongly polarized very-high-n (n∼600) potassium Rydberg atoms can be produced by manipulating lower-n (n∼350) polarized atoms using a tailored sequence of ultrashort half-cycle pulses (HCPs). The protocol for this involves first a weak HCP that generates transient phase-space localization whereupon a second large HCP of opposite polarity excites the electron to a broad distribution of highly elongated states. This distribution is then refocused by a short periodic train of HCPs using the properties of (un)stable manifolds near fixed points in phase space.

© 2005 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.163007
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.163007
PACS:
32.80.Rm, 32.60.+i, 32.80.Qk
 
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