Spectroscopy of rubidium Rydberg states with three diode lasers.

This paper presents a new method of purely optical spectroscopy of rubidium Rydberg states in a room-temperature gas cell. The atoms are excited into the Rydberg state from the ground state with a three-step diode laser cascade setup. The excitation of Rydberg states is monitored by observing the absorption of the laser performing the first excitation step on the strong rubidium D2 line. Different polarization schemes and possible excitation geometries are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]