Measurement of the electric dipole moments for transitions to rubidium Rydberg states via Autler–Townes splitting

We present the direct measurements of electric dipole moments for 5P 3/2 → n D 5/2 transitions with 20< n <48 for rubidium atoms. The measurements were carried out in an ultracold sample via observation of the Autler–Townes splitting in a three-level ladder scheme, commonly used for two-photon excitation of Rydberg states. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic measurement of the electric dipole moments for transitions from low excited states of rubidium to Rydberg states. Due to its simplicity and versatility, this method can be easily extended to other transitions and other atomic species with few constraints. The good agreement seen between the experimental results and the theory proves the reliability of the measurement method.