Rydberg-Stark deceleration and trapping of helium in magnetic fields

Abstract

Triplet (S = 1) He Rydberg atoms in supersonic beams with an initial velocity of 350 m s-1 have been decelerated to zero velocity and loaded into an off-axis electric trap in the presence and absence of magnetic fields. Comparing the deceleration efficiencies and the radiative decay of the population of trapped He Rydberg atoms to the (1s)1(2s)13S1 metastable level in the two sets of deceleration and trapping experiments revealed that the effects of magnetic fields up to 30 mT are negligible provided that a background dc electric field is maintained in the decelerator. A magnetic quadrupole trap of 30 mT depth corresponds to a He temperature of about 40 mK. The results thus represent an important step towards achieving high densities of cold paramagnetic samples following successive cycles of Rydberg-Stark deceleration, trapping, and radiative decay in overlaid electric and magnetic traps.