Time-domain measurements of Rydberg doublet splittings using microwave half-cycle pulses - art. no. 032504

We observe transitions between Rydberg states driven by intense 500-ps-wide half-cycle electric-field pulses in a microwave transmission line. Using t wo identical temporally spaced pulses we can perform spectroscopic measurem ents. We have measured fine-structure intervals between the d(3/2) and d(5/ 2) states in Na and K using this technique. The frequency measurements span two orders of magnitude and are an order of magnitude more accurate than p revious direct measurements of these transitions and more than a factor of 2 more accurate than previous high-precision microwave measurements.