title: Surface-electrode Rydberg-Stark decelerator.
abstract: Hydrogen atoms in Rydberg states with principal quantum numbers between 23 and 70 have been accelerated, decelerated, and electrostatically trapped using a surface-electrode Rydberg-Stark decelerator. By applying a set of oscillating electrical potentials to a two-dimensional array of electrodes on a printed circuit board (PCB), a continuously moving, three-dimensional electric trap with a predefined velocity and acceleration is generated. From an initial longitudinal velocity of 760  m/s, final velocities of the Rydberg atoms ranging from 1200  m/s to zero velocity in the laboratory-fixed frame of reference were achieved. Accelerated or decelerated atoms were detected directly by pulsed electric-field ionization. Atoms trapped at zero mean velocity above the PCB were reaccelerated off the PCB before field ionization.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorium für Physikalische Chemie, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Hogan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Allmendinger
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sassmannshausen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schmutz
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Merkt