Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Atoms in Rydberg states are an important building block for emerging quantum technologies. While excitation to Rydberg orbitals is typically achieved in more than tens of nanoseconds, the physical limit is in fact much faster, at the ten picoseconds level. Here, we tackle such ultrafast Rydberg excitation of a rubidium atom by designing a dedicated pulsed laser system generating 480 nm pulses of 10 ps duration. In particular, we improved upon our previous design by using an injection-seeded optical parametric amplifier (OPA) to obtain a stable pulsed energy, decreasing the fluctuation from 30 to 6%. We then succeeded in ultrafast excitation of Rydberg atoms with excitation probability of ∼90%, not limited anymore by energy fluctuation but rather by the atomic state preparation, addressable in future works. This achievement broadens the range of applications of Rydberg atoms.
Source: Optics Letters
DOI: 10.1364/ol.538707
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4404736126