Electric field control for ultracold Rydberg atoms in glass cells*

Atoms excited to Rydberg states are an important platform in quantum computation, simulation, and information processing. Their high polarizabilities that scale as n⁷, where n is the principal quantum number, also make them sensitive to tiny electric fields, making them excellent candidates for electric field sensors. However, for general high-n Rydberg experiments in ultracold systems, this sensitivity makes them vulnerable to stray electric fields that lead to quantum decoherence and line-broadening. This is a particularly acute problem for Rydberg atoms close to dielectric surfaces, such as in glass cells which may be preferred over more traditional stainless steel vacuum chambers as they provide more optical access in any direction. In this abstract, we present a design of eight electrodes that fit into tiny glass cells while not restricting the Numerical Aperture required for typical experiments with microscope objectives. We have used these electrodes to cancel external electric fields upto 10 mV/cm with a linewidth of 20 kHz, which is smaller than the Doppler linewidth at the temperature of our atomic cloud. With full control of the field, it is also possible to measure the electric field gradients in each direction. This design can be extended to Rydberg atoms in high-finesse optical cavities where the cavity mirrors may be closer to the atoms than a glass cell requiring precise electric field control.