Tracking a nonrelativistic charge with an array of Rydberg atoms

Abstract

Charged particle tracking has played a key role in the development of particle physics, particularly for understanding phenomena involving short-lived particles precisely. As a platform for high-resolution charged particle tracking, an array of Rydberg atoms is theoretically analyzed. Utilizing the Ramsey sequence to accumulate the phase shift between the ground and a Rydberg excited state induced by the time-dependent Stark shift due to a moving charge, a nonrelativistic charged particle can be tracked with a precision of ∼10 nm, with a potential of higher resolution by optimizing reconstruction algorithm. Although a lot of technical difficulties need to be resolved, the proposed scheme can potentially serve as a charge tracker for relativistic charged particles as well. Also, this analysis can explain potential decoherence in the quantum computation with Rydberg atoms induced by residual ions and cosmic rays.