You are currently viewing the summary.
View Full TextLog in to view the full text
AAAS login provides access to Science for AAAS members, and access to other journals in the Science family to users who have purchased individual subscriptions.
More options
Download and print this article for your personal scholarly, research, and educational use.
Buy a single issue of Science for just $15 USD.
Summary
Rydberg atoms are atoms with a highly excited electron. In his Perspective, Villeneuve explains that by creating a coherent superposition of Rydberg states, the electron can be made to behave almost like a classical Rutherford atom. He highlights the report by Maeda et al., who show that they can force the electron wave packet to remain localized for thousands of highly elliptical orbits around the nucleus, much like a miniature planetary system. Such experiments help to bridge the gap between the quantum mechanical world and our everyday classical world.
