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arXiv · 1001.3888

Absolute and ratio measurements of the polarizability of Na, K, and Rb with an atom interferometer

William F. Holmgren·Melissa C. Revelle·Vincent P. A. Lonij·Alexander D. Cronin
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Abstract

We measured the ground state electric dipole polarizability of sodium, potassium, and rubidium using a Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer with an electric field gradient. We find alpha_Na=24.11(2)_stat(18)_sys x 10^-24 cm^3, alpha_K=43.06(14)(33), and alpha_Rb=47.24(12)(42). Since these measurements were all performed in the same apparatus and subject to the same systematic errors we can present polarizability ratios with 0.3% precision. We find alpha_Rb/alpha_Na=1.959(5), alpha_K/alpha_Na=1.786(6), and alpha_Rb/alpha_K=1.097(5). We combine our ratio measurements with the higher precision measurement of sodium polarizability by Ekstrom et al. [Phys. Rev. A 51, 3883 (1995)] to find alpha_K=43.06(21) and alpha_Rb=47.24(21).

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William F. Holmgren, Melissa C. Revelle, Vincent P. A. Lonij, Alexander D. Cronin. 2010-01-21. Absolute and ratio measurements of the polarizability of Na, K, and Rb with an atom interferometer. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.81.053607

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