Adsorbate dynamics on a silica-coated gold surface measured by Rydberg Stark spectroscopy

Abstract

Trapping a Rydberg atom close to a surface is an important step towards the realisation of many proposals of quantum information or hybrid quantum systems. One of the challenges in these experiments is to overcome the electric field emanating from contaminations on the surface. Here we report on measurements of an electric field created by ${}^{87}$Rb atoms absorbed on a 25nm thick layer of SiO${}_2$, covering a 90nm layer of Au. The electric field is measured using a two-photon transition to the 23$D_{5/2}$ and 25$S_{1/2}$ state. The electric field value that we measure is higher than typical values measured above metal surfaces, but is consistent with other measurements above SiO${}_2$ surfaces. In addition, we measure the temporal behaviour of the field and observe that we can reduce it in a single experimental cycle, using UV light or by mildly heating the surface, whereas the buildup of the field takes thousands of cycles. We explain these results by a change in the ad-atoms distribution on the surface. These results indicate that the stray electric field can be reduced, opening new possibilities for experiments with trapped Rydberg atoms near surfaces.

arXiv comment9 pages, 9 figures

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Quantum computing with atomic qubits and Rydberg interactions: Progress and challenges
• Rydberg-atom based radio-frequency electrometry using frequency modulation spectroscopy in room temperature vapor cells
• Intracavity Rydberg atom electromagnetically induced transparency using a high finesse optical cavity
• Scanning Quantum Cryogenic Atom Microscope
• Reducing the sensitivity of Rydberg atoms to dc electric fields using two-frequency ac field dressing
• Rydberg excitation of cold atoms inside a hollow core fiber
• Controlling Stray Electric Fields on an Atom Chip for Rydberg Experiments
• Designs of magnetic atom-trap lattices for quantum simulation experiments
• Controllability in tunable chains of coupled harmonic oscillators
• Mitigating noise of residual electric fields for single Rydberg atoms with electron photodesorption