Nondispersing Bohr Wave Packets

Journal Article · Fri Mar 13 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.102.103001· OSTI ID:21180282

Maeda, H ^[1]; Gurian, J H; Gallagher, T F ^[1]

---

1. Department of Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-0714 (United States)

Long-lived, nondispersing circular, or Bohr, wave packets are produced starting from Li Rydberg atoms by exposing them first to a linearly polarized microwave field at the orbital frequency, 17.6 GHz at principal quantum number n=72, which locks the electron's motion into an approximately linear orbit in which the electron oscillates in phase with the microwave field. The microwave polarization is changed to circular polarization slowly compared to the orbital frequency, and the electron's motion follows, resulting in a nondispersing Bohr wave packet.

• OSTI ID: 21180282
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.103001; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ATOMS
ELECTRONS
GHZ RANGE 01-100
LITHIUM
MICROWAVE RADIATION
POLARIZATION
RYDBERG STATES
WAVE PACKETS