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Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 203004 (2007) [4 pages]

Electric Dipole Echoes in Rydberg Atoms

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S. Yoshida1, C. O. Reinhold2,3, J. Burgdörfer1,3, W. Zhao4, J. J. Mestayer4, J. C. Lancaster4, and F. B. Dunning4
1Institute for Theoretical Physics, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria, EU
2Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6372, USA
3Department of Physics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA
4Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005-1892, USA

Received 14 February 2007; published 15 May 2007

We report the first observation of echoes in the electric dipole moment of an ensemble of Rydberg atoms precessing in an external electric field F. Rapid reversal of the field direction is shown to play a role similar to that of a π pulse in NMR in rephasing a dephased ensemble of electric dipoles resulting in the buildup of an echo. The mechanisms responsible for this are discussed with the aid of classical trajectory Monte Carlo simulations.

© 2007 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.203004
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.203004
PACS:
32.80.Rm, 32.80.Qk, 76.60.Lz
 
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