Revisiting collisional broadening of $^85}$Rb Rydberg levels: conclusions for vapor cell manufacture

Published

March 13, 2025

Author(s)

Mingxin Lei, Stephen Eckel, Eric Norrgard, Nikunjkumar Prajapati, Alexandra Artusio-Glimpse, Matthew Simons, Christopher Holloway

Abstract

Electrometry based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in alkali Rydberg vapor cells may suffer reduced sensitivity due to spurious line broadening effects, caused by surface charges, contaminant gases, or other manufacturing defects. In order to draw conclusions about the deleterious effects of potential contaminant gases inside Rydberg electrometry vapor cells, we revisit collisional broadening and shifts of both the D$_2$ line and Rydberg levels of rubidium. Specifically, we measure the broadening and shifts of the $5\rm S}_1⁄2\rightarrow 5\rm P}_3/2}$ (i.e., the D$_2$ line) and $5\rm S}_1⁄2\rightarrow 5\rm P}_3/2}\rightarrow (25\rm D},27\rm S},30\rm D},32\rm S},35\rm D},37\rm S})$ transitions of $^85}$Rb due to He, Ne, N$_2$ and Ar. By combining these measurements with observations of velocity changing collisions in the sub-Doppler spectrum of the D$_2$ line, we conclude the following: (1) that contaminant gases are most likely not the cause of irregular line shapes or shifts of Rydberg transitions due to the high pressures required, and (2) the sub-Doppler spectrum of the D$_2$ line, through its accompanying loss of contrast at high pressures, can validate that a vapor cell is sufficiently free of contaminant gas for EIT electrometry. We use the theory of Omont, \it J. Phys. France} \bf 38}, 1343 (1977), to extend our results to a wide variety of possible contaminant gases and further derive scaling laws applicable to all gases.

Citation

Physical Review Applied

Volume

23

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.23.034028

Local Download

Keywords

Rydberg electrometry, pressure broadening, collisional broadening, vapor cell

Citation

Lei, M. , Eckel, S. , Norrgard, E. , Prajapati, N. , Artusio-Glimpse, A. , SIMONS, M. and Holloway, C. (2025), Revisiting collisional broadening of $^{85}$Rb Rydberg levels: conclusions for vapor cell manufacture, Physical Review Applied, [online], https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.23.034028, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=958304 (Accessed March 28, 2025)