Erlangen 2018 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 62: Poster: Quantum Optics and Photonics V

Q 62.22: Poster

Thursday, March 8, 2018, 16:15–18:15, Redoutensaal

Tailoring ionization of highly Stark shifted Rubidium Rydberg states — •Jens Grimmel, Markus Stecker, Manuel Kaiser, Peter Zwissler, Florian Karlewski, Andreas Günther, and József Fortágh — Center for Quantum Science, Physikalisches Institut, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 14, D-72076 Tübingen,

Rydberg atoms are extremely sensitive to electric fields and consequently have a rich Stark spectrum. At sufficiently high electric fields these states start to ionize due to tunneling through the potential barrier as well as direct coupling to the continuum. This region is of particular interest for tailoring the ionization process to certain needs, for example in order to create cold ions and electrons for microscopy applications.

In our numerical calculations we calculate the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a matrix representation of a Hamiltonian including a complex absorbing potential (CAP) to accurately predict the ionization spectra of Rydberg states beyond the classical ionization threshold. The CAP is adjusted to the external electric field, which allows us to calculate a whole range of the spectrum with only one free parameter. We find good agreement between the results from these calculations and the experimental data of Stark maps for Rubidium Rydberg atoms with principal quantum numbers up to 70 and are able to identify Stark shifted states with ionization rates that can be controlled by fine tuning the external electric field.