Abstract

The behavior of alkaline atoms in Rydberg states in the presence of noble gases is a well-known topic.¹ Knowledge of pressure shifts and broadening for very high principal quantum numbers is still incomplete, and extension of the data to n values as high as possible seems desirable. We investigated for the first time the shift and broadening of $5s^2{}^1{\mathcal{S}}_0\to 5sn{d}^1{D}_2$ transitions of ⁸⁸Sr_I above n = 100. In those cases, where the Rydberg atoms interact with He, Ar, Kr, or Xe, the observed n dependence of the shift and broadening rates K^∆ and K^γ is in agreement with theoretical predictions² for intermediate n values (20 ≤ n ≤ 50). For high n, however, we cannot verify an asymptotic behavior.

© 1986 Optical Society of America