"Designer atoms: Engineering Rydberg atom wavepackets using pulsed electric fields "


Barry Dunning , Rice University
[Host: Tom Gallagher]
ABSTRACT:
Advances in experimental technique now allow application of pulsed unidirectional electric fields, termed half-cycle pulses (HCPs), to Rydberg atoms whose characteristic times are much less than the classical electron orbital period. In this limit each HCP simply delivers an impulsive momentum transfer or "kick" to the excited electron. A number of protocols for controlling and manipulating Rydberg atom wavepackets using carefully tailored sequences of HCPs will be described with emphasis on the production of quasi one-dimensional and near circular Rydberg states, on navigating electron wavepackets in phase space, and on studying reversible and irreversible dephasing using electric dipole echoes. Insights provided by this work into classical-quantum correspondence, physics in the ultra-fast ultra-intense regime, and decoherence in mesoscopic quantum systems will be discussed.
SLIDESHOW:
Colloquium
Friday, November 16, 2007
4:00 PM
Physics Building, Room 204
Note special time.
Note special room.

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