Production and trapping of cold circular Rydberg atoms

Abstract

Cold circular Rydberg atoms are produced and magnetically trapped. The trap is characterized by direct spatial imaging of ion distributions, ion counting, and state-selective field ionization. At room temperature, we observe about 70% of the trapped atoms remaining after 6 ms. We measure a trap oscillation frequency increase of the circular Rydberg atom trap relative to the ground-state atom trap due to the larger magnetic moment of the circular Rydberg atoms. Simulations of the center-of-mass and internal-state evolution of circular states in our magnetic trap are performed and results are in good agreement with experimental observations.