Probing the spatial distribution of high-angular-momentum Rydberg wave packets

Journal Article · Sat Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.84.043412· OSTI ID:22095371

Wyker, B.; Ye, S.; Dunning, F. B. ^[1]; Yoshida, S. ^[2]; Reinhold, C. O. ^[3]; Burgdoerfer, J. ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005-1892 (United States)
2. Institute for Theoretical Physics, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna (Austria)
3. Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6372 (United States)

We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that the spatial distribution of high-angular-momentum Rydberg wave packets, and thus off-diagonal elements of the density matrix, can be probed in detail through extraction of the moments of the position distribution ({lambda}=1,2) from quantum beat revivals. Detailed knowledge of the position distribution allows precise manipulation of the wave packet which is demonstrated by the control of its n distribution.

• OSTI ID: 22095371
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 84; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
DENSITY MATRIX
RYDBERG STATES
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
WAVE PACKETS