Anomalously enhanced lifetimes of low angular momentum Rydberg states in singly charged alkaline-earth metal ions

@misc{euchner2026anomalously,
  title = {{Anomalously enhanced lifetimes of low angular momentum Rydberg states in singly charged alkaline-earth metal ions}},
  author = {Simon Euchner and Weibin Li and Igor Lesanovsky},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.24874},
  eprint = {2609.24874},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.24874},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Anomalously enhanced lifetimes of low angular momentum Rydberg states in singly charged alkaline-earth metal ions
AU  - Simon Euchner
AU  - Weibin Li
AU  - Igor Lesanovsky
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/29
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.24874
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.24874
AB  - Trapped ions excited to high-lying electronic states, so-called Rydberg states, open new opportunities for quantum simulation and quantum computing. Generally, the fidelity of quantum coherent operations critically depends on the longevity of Rydberg states. However, scaling laws predict that the lifetimes of Rydberg states in singly charged alkaline-earth metal ions are 16 times shorter, compared to their neutral atom counterparts. Here, we show that this is not generally the case. We report an anomalous lifetime enhancement of certain low angular momentum ionic Rydberg series by factors larger than eight. The anomaly is present at both zero and finite temperature, although it is caused by different mechanisms. At zero temperature, the anomalously enhanced lifetimes are caused by accidental cancellations of the relevant dipole transition matrix elements, while at room temperature the anomaly originates from the enlarged energetic separation of ionic Rydberg levels with respect to neutral-atom levels.
ER  -