Matter-wave interferometry with atoms in high Rydberg states

Abstract

Matter-wave interferometry has been performed with helium atoms in high Rydberg states. In the experiments the atoms were prepared in coherent superpositions of Rydberg states with different electric dipole moments. Upon the application of an inhomogeneous electric field, the different forces on these internal state components resulted in the generation of coherent superpositions of momentum states. Using a sequence of microwave and electric field gradient pulses the internal Rydberg states were entangled with the momentum states associated with the external motion of these matter waves. Under these conditions matter-wave interference was observed by monitoring the populations of the Rydberg states as the magnitudes and durations of the pulsed electric field gradients were adjusted. The results of the experiments have been compared to, and are in excellent quantitative agreement with, matter-wave interference patterns calculated for the corresponding pulse sequences. For the Rydberg states used, the spatial extent of the Rydberg electron wavefunction was ~320 nm. Matter-wave interferometry with such giant atoms is of interest in the exploration of the boundary between quantum and classical mechanics. The results presented also open new possibilities for measurements of the acceleration of Rydberg positronium or antihydrogen atoms in the Earth's gravitational field.

28 pages, 10 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Atom Interferometers
• Observation of enhanced rate coefficients in the H${}_2^{+}$ + H${}_2$ $\to$ H${}_3^{+}$ + H reaction at low collision energies
• Probing interactions between Rydberg atoms with large electric dipole moments in amplitude modulated electric fields
• Experimental demonstration of a Rydberg-atom beam splitter
• Preparation of circular Rydberg states in helium using the crossed fields method
• Confinement of high- and low-field-seeking Rydberg atoms using time-varying inhomogeneous electric fields

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Limitations for field-enhanced atom interferometry