C O Reinhold et al 2009 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 42 091003 doi:10.1088/0953-4075/42/9/091003
C O Reinhold1,2, S Yoshida3, J Burgdörfer2,3, B Wyker4, J J Mestayer4 and F B Dunning4
Show affiliationsWe demonstrate that the quantum coherence of mesoscopic very-high-n, n~305, Rydberg wave packets travelling along nearly circular orbits can be maintained on microsecond time scales corresponding to hundreds of classical orbital periods. The coherence is probed through collapses and revivals of periodic oscillations in the average electron position. The temporal interferences of spatially separated Schrödinger cat-like wave packets are also observed. A novel hybrid quantum–classical trajectory method is employed to simulate the wave packet dynamics.
32.80.Rm Multiphoton ionization and excitation to highly excited states
32.80.Qk Coherent control of atomic interactions with photons
Issue 9 (14 May 2009)
Received 20 March 2009
Published 27 April 2009
C O Reinhold et al 2009 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 42 091003
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