Rydberg state Stark spectroscopic measurement of electric-field profile in a glow discharge

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Abstract
The electric-field profile in the cathode-fall region of a low-pressure helium gas discharge has been measured by high-level Rydberg state Stark spectroscopy using optogalvanic detection. The Stark manifolds of triplet atomic helium Rydberg states with principal quantum numbers n=15 up to 20 have been used to measure the electric-field vector using both Δmj=0 and ‖Δmj‖=1 laser polarizations. The absolute accuracy of the electric-field measurement was found to be 5% or better. The ‖Δmj‖=1 polarization Stark spectra exhibit pseudohydrogenic behavior in Stark splitting, as well as in the manifold intensity distribution. The Stark splitting of states corresponding to 1>4 was almost hydrogenic for all the measured principal quantum-number states and the intensity distribution became approximately hydrogenic for n≥16 at electric fields ≤700 V/cm.