München 2004 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help
A: Atomphysik
A 15: Poster 2
A 15.30: Poster
Thursday, March 25, 2004, 14:00–16:00, Schellingstr. 3
Electronic Structure of Atoms in Magnetic Quadrupole Traps — •Igor Lesanovsky1, Jörg Schmiedmayer1 und Peter Schmelcher1,2 — 1Universität Heidelberg- Physikalisches Institut, Philosophenweg 12, 69120 Heidelberg — 2Universität Heidelberg-Physikalisch Chemisches Institut, INF 229, 69120 Heidelberg
For the manipulation of ultra-cold atoms magnetic fields play an essential role. As long as the spatial variation of the magnetic field are much less than the typical atomic length scale an atom behaves like a neutral particle coupling to the external field by its total spin only. For Rydberg atoms this does not hold and the coupling of the charge of the atomic constituents has to be taken into account. We investigate the electronic structure of atoms exposed to a magnetic quadrupole field. Here, in contrast to the homogeneous field, the spin and spatial degrees of freedom are coupled leading to unique properties of the electronic states. An inspection of the systems symmetries reveals a two-fold degeneracy of the electronic states in the presence of the field. We analyze both low-lying and highly excited states over a broad regime of field gradients. The delicate interplay between the Coulomb and various magnetic interactions leads to complex patterns of the spatial spin polarization of individual excited states. We also study electromagnetic transitions and point out differences to the electromagnetic spectrum observed in a homogeneous magnetic field. Furthermore we show that the magnetic quadrupole field induces a permanent state dependent electric dipole moment of the atom.