October 2011

Journal

Probing the Spatial Distribution of High Angular Momentum Rydberg Wave Packets

By:
Wyker, B.; Ye, S.; Dunning, F.; Yoshida, S.; Reinhold, Carlos O; Burgdorfer, J.
Journal Name:
Physical Review A
Page Number:
043412-1-043412-6
Volume:
84
Issue Number:
4
Publication Date:
October 2011
View DOI Listing:
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.043412

Abstract

We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that the spatial distribution of high-angular-momentum Rydberg wave packets, and thus off-diagonal elements of the density matrix, can be probed in detail through extraction of the moments of the position distribution yλ(λ = 1,2) from quantum beat revivals. Detailed knowledge of the position distribution allows precise manipulation of the wave packet which is demonstrated by the control of its n distribution.