Formation of oriented elliptic Rydberg atoms

Oriented elliptic Rydberg atoms have been formed in a thermal beam of Li atoms by the adiabatic crossed-field method. All coherent elliptic quantum states from linear to circular can be produced by this method. The orientation and eccentricity is controlled by the external fields. While the formation of circular states by the crossed-field method has already been established experimentally, the radiative decay of the Rydberg atoms formed here was measured and compared with theory to verify that highly eccentric elliptic quantum states may also be formed.