Environmental radiation effect of atomic Rydberg states

The interaction between Rydberg states of atoms and environmental radiation has been systematically studied. The experimental results show that the re distribution of populations of the Rydberg states of Na for ns(n = 20-24), np (n = 19-23) and nd(n = 19-23) caused by environmental radiation is appre ciable at room temperature and thereby affects the lifetime of the states. The theoretical calculations concerning the experiments exhibit that the in fluences of stimulated emission induced by environmental radiation on lifet imes of Rydberg states are weaker than those of stimulated absorption and a rise in energy level will lead to an increase of these influences in the e nergy-range studied. The relativity between liftimes of Rydberg atoms and e nvironmental temperature has been calculated. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.