Coherent population transfer in an atom by multiphoton adiabatic rapid passage.

Coherent population transfer in an atom using a sequence of adiabatic rapid passages through single-photon resonances is well-known, but it requires that the frequency sweep match the changing frequencies of the atomic transitions. The same population transfer can be effected via a single multiphoton adiabatic rapid passage, which requires only a small frequency sweep, if it is possible to select the desired multiphoton transition from the many possible transitions. Here we report the observation of population transfer between Rydberg states by high order multiphoton adiabatic rapid passage.