Manipulating Rydberg Electrons With Strong Electric-Field Pulses: Applications to THz Field Detection and Decoherence Suppression
Abstract
Our primary research effort during the funding period focused on the exploration and control of coherent time-dependent electronic interactions within and between atoms. Specifically, we considered the behavior of Rydberg atoms in which one electron is very highly-excited, residing in a state of large principal quantum number, n. Such highly-excited Rydberg electrons are extremely sensitive to electric fields due, for example, to neighboring atoms or external radiation at frequencies from DC to THz. The strong coupling between cold Rydberg atoms is at the core of some proposed quantum logic implementations which seek to control entangling interactions between atoms. Our recent experiments have verified the controllability of coherent long-range few-body interactions and demonstrated electronic coherence times which are comparable to the time-scales for relative atom motion and the spontaneous emission lifetime of the Rydberg states. In addition, we have developed an ultra-fast, potentially single-shot detector of THz waveforms. The detector exploits the large polarizability and electric field sensitivity of Rydberg atoms to enable the visualization of THz waveforms with sub-picosecond resolution over 100 picosecond intervals.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 25, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA563636
Entities
People
- Robert R. Jones
Organizations
- University of Virginia