2003/12/08 by Igor Lesanovsky, I. Lesanovsky, Jörg Schmiedmayer +3 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Frequency and Time Standards #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1209/epl/i2003-10109-0
published as Europhys. Lett., 65 (4), pp. 478--484 (2004) · 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in EPL
arxiv created 2003/12/08 · openalex publication_date 2004/02/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
We investigate the electronic structure and properties of Rydberg atoms exposed to a magnetic quadrupole field. It is shown that the spatial as well as generalized time-reversal symmetries lead to a two-fold degeneracy of the electronic states in the presence of the external field. A delicate interplay between the Coulomb and magnetic interactions in the inhomogeneous field leads to an unusual weak field splitting of the energy levels as well as complex spatial patterns of the corresponding spin polarization density of individual Rydberg states. Remarkably, the magnetic quadrupole field induces a permanent electric-dipole moment of the atom.