Wang Shao-Zheng, Wang Shou-Bo, Tao Zhi-Jin, Xia Tian, Lu Zheng-Tian
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230088, China.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Jul;122(26):e2423902122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2423902122. Epub 2025 Jun 27.
The response of an atom to external electric and magnetic fields can reveal fundamental atomic properties. It has long been verified that, in a static magnetic field, those atomic energy levels with hyperfine interactions shift according to the Breit-Rabi formula, which introduces nonlinear dependence on the magnetic field. On the other hand, the corresponding Breit-Rabi dependence on a static electric field has not been observed before due to a combination of experimental challenges. Here, we precisely measure the Stark shift of the [Formula: see text] transition of [Formula: see text]Yb ([Formula: see text] = 1/2) with cold atoms held by an optical dipole trap in a static electric field up to 120 kV/cm. We observe the electric Breit-Rabi effect displaying high-order ([Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]) DC Stark shifts. These effects arise from the influence of the strong electric field on hyperfine interactions.
原子对外加电场和磁场的响应能够揭示基本的原子特性。长期以来已经证实，在静磁场中，那些具有超精细相互作用的原子能级会根据 Breit-Rabi 公式发生移动，该公式引入了对磁场的非线性依赖。另一方面，由于一系列实验挑战，此前尚未观察到相应的 Breit-Rabi 对静电场的依赖关系。在此，我们利用光学偶极阱在高达 120 kV/cm 的静电场中囚禁冷原子，精确测量了 (^{171}\text{Yb})（(I = 1/2)）的 (F = 1\rightarrow F' = 2) 跃迁的斯塔克位移。我们观察到电 Breit-Rabi 效应呈现出高阶（(m = \pm 2) 和 (m = \pm 1)）直流斯塔克位移。这些效应源于强电场对超精细相互作用的影响。
