TY - JOUR

T1 - Ionization of sodium and rubidium nS, nP, and nD Rydberg atoms by blackbody radiation

AU - Beterov, I. I.

AU - Tretyakov, D. B.

AU - Ryabtsev, I. I.

AU - Ekers, A.

AU - Bezuglov, N. N.

N1 - Copyright: Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2007/5/30

Y1 - 2007/5/30

N2 - Results of theoretical calculations of ionization rates of Rb and Na Rydberg atoms by blackbody radiation (BBR) are presented. Calculations have been performed for nS, nP, and nD states of Na and Rb, which are commonly used in a variety of experiments, at principal quantum numbers n=8-65 and at three ambient temperatures of 77, 300, and 600 K. A peculiarity of our calculations is that we take into account the contributions of BBR-induced redistribution of population between Rydberg states prior to photoionization and field ionization by extraction electric field pulses. The obtained results show that these phenomena affect both the magnitude of measured ionization rates and shapes of their dependences on n. The calculated ionization rates are compared with the results of our earlier measurements of BBR-induced ionization rates of Na nS and nD Rydberg states with n=8-20 at 300 K. A good agreement for all states except nS with n>15 is observed. We also present the useful analytical formulas for the quick estimation of BBR ionization rates of Rydberg atoms.

AB - Results of theoretical calculations of ionization rates of Rb and Na Rydberg atoms by blackbody radiation (BBR) are presented. Calculations have been performed for nS, nP, and nD states of Na and Rb, which are commonly used in a variety of experiments, at principal quantum numbers n=8-65 and at three ambient temperatures of 77, 300, and 600 K. A peculiarity of our calculations is that we take into account the contributions of BBR-induced redistribution of population between Rydberg states prior to photoionization and field ionization by extraction electric field pulses. The obtained results show that these phenomena affect both the magnitude of measured ionization rates and shapes of their dependences on n. The calculated ionization rates are compared with the results of our earlier measurements of BBR-induced ionization rates of Na nS and nD Rydberg states with n=8-20 at 300 K. A good agreement for all states except nS with n>15 is observed. We also present the useful analytical formulas for the quick estimation of BBR ionization rates of Rydberg atoms.

KW - Rydberg states

KW - black-body ionization

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34347335608&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevA.75.052720

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevA.75.052720

M3 - Article

VL - 75

JO - Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

JF - Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

SN - 1050-2947

IS - 5

M1 - 052720

ER -