We have set up our newest laser: a pulsed dye laser that will provide intense UV radiation with wavelength around 365 nm. We will focus this radiation to a small spot, irradiating the Ps atoms and driving two-photon transitions to Rydberg states of Ps. By retro-reflecting the UV radiation we will drive Doppler-free transitions, which will allow us to interact with a large range of atoms, covering the very wide Doppler-profile of the hot Ps atoms.
The advantage of this scheme is that we can drive the transitions to Rydberg states with narrow band pulsed dye lasers, which should allow us sufficient resolution to address individual Rydberg-Stark states when irradiating the atoms in a uniform electric field. This selective population will allow us to prepare the atoms in states ideal for manipulation with inhomogeneous electric fields, such as focussing and Rydberg-Stark deceleration.
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