Controlling ultracold Rydberg atoms in the quantum regime

Abstract

We discuss the properties of Rydberg atoms in a magnetic Ioffe-Pritchard trap being commonly used in ultracold atomic physics experiments. The Hamiltonian is derived and it is demonstrated how tight traps alter the coupling of the atom to the magnetic field. We solve the underlying Schroedinger equation of the system within a given n-manifold and show that for a sufficiently large Ioffe field strength the 2n^2-dimensional system of coupled Schroedinger equations decays into several decoupled multicomponent equations governing the center of mass motion. An analysis of the fully quantized center of mass and electronic states is undertaken. In particular, we discuss the situation of tight center of mass confinement outlining the procedure to generate a low-dimensional ultracold Rydberg gas.