Induced THz transitions in Rydberg caesium atoms for application in antihydrogen experiments

Abstract

Antihydrogen atoms are produced at CERN in highly excited Rydberg states. However, precision measurements require anti-atoms in ground state. Whereas experiments currently rely on spontaneous emission only, simulations have shown that THz light can be used to stimulate the decay towards ground state and thus increase the number of anti-atoms available for measurements. We review different possibilities at hand to generate light in the THz range required for the purpose of stimulated deexcitation. We demonstrate the effect of a blackbody type light source, which however presents drawbacks for this application including strong photoionization. Further, we report on the first THz transitions in a beam of Rydberg caesium atoms induced by photomixers and conclude with the implications of the results for the antihydrogen case.

References in corpus (3)

• Developments in laser-driven plasma accelerators
• Cross Section for Rydberg Antihydrogen Production via Charge Exchange Between Rydberg Positronium and Antiprotons in Magnetic Field
• Scaling behaviour of the ground-state antihydrogen yield from CTMC simulation as a function of positron density and temperature

Cited by in corpus (1)

• A Rydberg hydrogen beam for studies of stimulated deexcitation