A fresh look at 3D microwave ionization curves of hydrogen Rydberg atoms

Assemblies of highly excited Rydberg atoms in an ultracold gas can be set into motion by a combination of van-der-Waals and resonant dipole-dipole interactions. Thereby, the collective electronic Rydberg state might change due to non-adiabatic transitions, in particular if the configuration encounters a conical interaction. For the experimentally most accessible scenario, in which the Rydberg atoms are initially randomly excited in a three-dimensional bulk gas under blockade ...

Quantum information processing based on Rydberg atoms emerged as a promising direction two decades ago. Recent experimental and theoretical progresses have shined exciting light on this avenue. In this concise review, we will briefly introduce the basics of Rydberg atoms and their recent applications in associated areas of neutral atom quantum computation and simulation. We shall also include related discussions on quantum optics with Rydberg atomic ensembles, which are incre...

We present ionization probability and line shape calculations for the two-step 3-photon ionization process, $1S \stackrel{2\hbar \omega}{\longrightarrow}2S \stackrel{\hbar \omega}{\longrightarrow}\epsilon P $, of the ground state of hydrogenic atoms in a non-monochromatic laser field with a time--dependent amplitude. Within the framework of a three--level model, the {\it AC Stark} shifts and non-zero ionization rates of all states involved were taken into account together wit...

Coherent time evolution of highly excited Rydberg states in Rb (98 < n < 150) under pulsed electric field in high slew-rate regime was investigated with the field ionization detection. The electric field necessary to ionize the Rydberg states was found to take discrete values successively depending on the slew rate. Specifically the slew-rate dependence of the ionization field varies with the quantum defect value of the states, i.e. with the energy position of the states rela...

The multiphoton ionization of hydrogen by a strong bichromatic microwave field is a complex process prototypical for atomic control research. Periodic orbit analysis captures this complexity: Through the stability of periodic orbits we can match qualitatively the variation of experimental ionization rates with a control parameter, the relative phase between the two modes of the field. Moreover, an empirical formula reproduces quantum simulations to a high degree of accuracy. ...

We investigate a microwave ionization of highly excited atom in a low frequency field and show that such a process may be studied on the bases of map for the electron energy change during the period of the electron motion between two subsequent passages at aphelion. Simple approximate criterion results to the threshold field for transition to chaotic behavior very close to the numerical results. We show that transition from adiabatic to chaotic ionization mechanism takes plac...

Developing microwave electric field sensing based on Rydberg atom has received significant attention due to its unique advantages. However, achieving effective coupling between Rydberg atom and the microwave electric field in the sensing process is a challenging problem that greatly impacts the sensitivity. To address this, we propose the use of a microwave resonant cavity to enhance the effective coupling between the Rydberg atoms and the microwave electric field. In our exp...

We numerically investigate multiphoton ionization of excited hydrogen atoms in magnetic and microwave fields when up to 600 photons are required for ionization. The analytical estimates for the quantum localization length in the classically chaotic regime are in agreement with numerical data. The excitation is much stronger as compared to the case with microwave field only due to the chaotic structure of eigenstates in magnetic field.

We present the first experimental data on strong-field ionization of atomic hydrogen by few-cycle laser pulses. We obtain quantitative agreement at the 10% level between the data and an {\it ab initio} simulation over a wide range of laser intensities and electron energies.

Mapping equations of motion of the highly exited classical atom in a monochromatic field are generalized for the two-frequency microwave field. Analysis of the obtained equations indicates to the weak sensitivity of the position of the recently observed ionization peak near the main resonance to the frequency and amplitude of the additional microwave field. In the high frequency region, however, the sensitivity of the enhanced ionization peaks on the additional field frequenc...