https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2012-01539-9
Regular Article
The positronium atom as a benchmark for Rydberg excitation experiments in atomic physics
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano and INFN Sezione di Milano, via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy
a e-mail: fabrizio.castelli@mi.infn.it
Received:
13
January
2012
Revised:
21
February
2012
Published online:
11
April
2012
Positronium is a hydrogen-like pure leptonic atom that has gained great attention in basic physics for its role in antimatter studies, in quantum electrodynamics tests and in material science. Positronium spectroscopy is also an interesting research field, especially in the again unexplored region of Rydberg states, where motional effects turns out of overwhelming importance in determining the level structure, at variance with the usual Rydberg atomic spectroscopy. In this paper we present a simple theory of optical excitation of positronium high-n levels in strong magnetic fields, and determine the conditions for obtaining saturation of the transitions. It is shown that positronium atom can be an atomic physics benchmark for laser excitation experiments on Rydberg states in magnetic environments.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2012