Abstract
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 , 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.
- Received 30 September 2008
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.103001
©2009 American Physical Society
Viewpoint
An astronomical solution to an old quantum problem
Published 9 March 2009
An atomic physics experiment demonstrates a solution to an eighty-year-old quantum conundrum by mimicking in an atom the astronomical problem of a satellite moving in a sun-earth system.
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