Studies Involving Atoms in High Rydberg States

处于高度激发的所谓里德伯态的原子是原子世界中真正的巨人，它们的外层电子在直径接近一毫米的轨道上相对缓慢地运动。 对于任何在遥远土地上的旅行者来说，里德伯电子既孤立又脆弱，它们的运动可以很容易地通过一系列电场脉冲传递的精心定制的“踢”序列来控制。 在这种反冲的影响下，里德伯电子可以表现出包括混沌在内的各种行为，这将被用来探索基于混沌系统复杂行为的信息处理新范式的潜力，包括使用里德伯原子作为逻辑门，在模式识别和数据挖掘中。 将检查位置彼此靠近、相互作用非常强烈的里德堡原子对的行为，以探索能量交换并寻找包含两个激发电子的新型长寿命分子里德堡态。 还将尝试创造含有两个激发电子的长寿命原子，每个电子都被放置在大轨道上，其运动通过相互作用而稳定，并反映了经典行星系统的运动。 将进行测量，其中射频场将被用来驱动里德伯电子的运动，以探测原子在受到超短超强激光脉冲作用时处于基态或低激发态的行为-本质上是用极端原子取代极端激光。这些研究与里德堡原子将提供一个宝贵的桥梁之间的纳米世界的量子物理学和宏观世界的牛顿力学。目前的研究计划将有助于培养科学劳动力，为学生提供一个坚实的基础，在许多领域的物理学以及多样化的实验技能，在许多技术相关的领域，如高真空技术，激光，高速电子学、计算机化数据采集和控制以及计算机建模。强相互作用里德伯系统的实验将为介观世界和介观系统（如量子点和量子威尔斯）提供有价值的新见解，这些介观系统在量子信息处理和量子计算相关的探索性概念和技术中发挥着重要作用。这项工作还将提供有关超快超强机制中物理学的新信息，并通过使用阿秒激光脉冲控制它们的性质和行为，包括它们的化学反应，来谈论低原子（和分子）状态的工程。 里德伯原子对一系列电场脉冲的响应的研究，为经典混沌和用于描述它的数学工具提供了新的见解，并提供了一个新的实验室，以测试基于混沌系统特性的信息处理和数据操作的新范式。 里德伯原子位于量子世界和经典世界之间的界面，并在两者之间提供了一个关键的桥梁。

Atoms in highly-excited so-called Rydberg states are true giants of the atomic world with their outer electrons traveling relatively slowly in orbits with diameters that can approach a fraction of a millimeter. As for any traveler in distant lands, Rydberg electrons are both isolated and vulnerable and their motions can be readily controlled using a carefully-tailored sequence of 'kicks' imparted by a series of electric field pulses. Under the influence of such kicks the Rydberg electron can display a wide variety of behaviors including chaos.This will be exploited to explore the potential of emerging new paradigms for information processing based on the complex behavior of chaotic systems including the use of Rydberg atoms as logic gates, in pattern recognition, and in data mining. The behavior of pairs of Rydberg atoms positioned close to each other such that they interact very strongly will be examined to explore energy interchange and to search for novel long-lived molecular Rydberg states containing two excited electrons. Attempts will also be made to create long-lived atoms containing two excited electrons that are each placed in large orbits and whose motions are stabilized by their mutual interactions and mirror that of a classical planetary system. Measurements will be undertaken in which radio-frequency fields will be employed to drive the motion of the Rydberg electron to probe the behavior of atoms in ground or low-lying excited states when acted upon by ultra-short ultra-intense laser pulses -- in essence replacing the extreme lasers by extreme atoms. These studies with Rydberg atoms will provide a valuable bridge between the nanoscale world of quantum physics and the macroscopic world of Newtonian mechanics.The present research program will contribute to the training of the scientific workforce by providing students a firm foundation in many areas of physics together with a diverse array of experimental skills in many technologically relevant areas such as high-vacuum technology, lasers, high speed electronics, computerized data acquisition and control, and computer modeling. The experiments on strongly-interacting Rydberg systems will provide valuable new insights into the mesoscopic world and mesoscopic systems such as quantum dots and quantum wells that play a prominent role in exploratory concepts and technologies related to quantum information processing and quantum computing. The work will also provide new information on physics in the ultra-fast ultra-intense regime and speak to the engineering of low-lying atomic (and molecular) states by using attosecond laser pulses to control their properties and behavior, including their chemical reactions. Studies of the response of Rydberg atoms to series of electric field pulses promise new insights into classical chaos and the mathematical tools used to describe it, and furnish a novel laboratory in which to test new paradigms for information processing and data manipulation based on the characteristics of chaotic systems. Rydberg atoms lie at the interface between the quantum and classical worlds and provide a critical bridge between both.