Mainz 2026 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 28: Ultra-cold Plasmas and Rydberg Systems II (joint session A/Q)

A 28.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 5, 2026, 11:00–11:30, N 2

Long-lived giant circular Rydberg atoms at room temperature — •Fabian Thielemann, Einius Pultinevicius, Aaron Götzelmann, Christian Hölzl, and Florian Meinert — 5 . Physikalisches Institut and Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology, Universität Stuttgart, Germany

Atoms in Rydberg states feature long-lived coherent electronic excitations and strong dipolar interactions, making them an attractive platform for quantum simulation and computation. Spinning them up to their maximum allowed angular momentum, to so called circular Rydberg states (CRS), can significantly enhance these desirable properties, e.g. boosting their lifetime from micro- to millisecond timescales. In our experiment we prepare ⁸⁸Sr atoms in CRS and optically trap them within a room-temperature capacitor structure made from indium-tin-oxide-coated glass. The capacitor inhibits blackbody radiation with wavelengths longer than twice its plate distance, thus significantly suppressing transitions between neighboring CRS with large principal quantum number n. Here, we coherently link CRS with n ranging from 79 up to 101 and demonstrate a capacitor-enhanced lifetime of 10ms [1]. We further show that, owing to their divalent structure, the ⁸⁸Sr in high angular momentum Rydberg states can be trapped in regular optical tweezers with trapping times exceeding 100ms.
[1] Pultinevicius et al., arXiv:2510.27471 (2025)

Keywords: circular Rydberg states; quantum simulation; optical tweezers; dipolar physics; Purcell effect