Coupling Rydberg Atoms to Microwave Fields in a Superconducting Coplanar Waveguide Resonator
A. A. Morgan, S. D. Hogan
Abstract
Rydberg helium atoms traveling in pulsed supersonic beams have been coupled to microwave fields in a superconducting coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonator. The atoms were initially prepared in the 1s55s ^{3}S_{1} Rydberg level by two-color two-photon laser excitation from the metastable 1s2s ^{3}S_{1} level. Two-photon microwave transitions between the 1s55s ^{3}S_{1} and 1s56s ^{3}S_{1} levels were then driven by the 19.556 GHz third-harmonic microwave field in a quarter-wave CPW resonator. This superconducting microwave resonator was fabricated from niobium nitride on a silicon substrate and operated at temperatures between 3.65 and 4.30 K. The populations of the Rydberg levels in the experiments were determined by state-selective pulsed electric field ionization. The coherence of the atom-resonator coupling was studied by time-domain measurements of Rabi oscillations.