Electrometry near a dielectric surface using Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency

Electrometry near a dielectric surface is performed using Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency. The large polarizability of high-n-state Rydberg atoms gives this method extreme sensitivity. We show that dipoles produced by adsorbates on the dielectric surface produce a significant electric field that responds to an applied field with a time constant of order 1 s. For transient applied fields (with a time scale of less than 1 s) we observe good agreement with calculations based on numerical solutions of Laplace's equation using an effective dielectric constant to simulate the bulk dielectric.