_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: Email: pchinnasamy@wesleyan.edu; Physical Science International Journal 8(2): 1-9, 2015, Article no.PSIJ.20646 ISSN: 2348-0130 SCIENCEDOMAIN international www.sciencedomain.org Potential of the Penning Ionization Gauge (PIG) Ion Source in Attaining High Energy Rydberg States Pennan Chinnasamy 1* 1 Department of Physics, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut; 06459, USA. Author’s contribution The sole author designed, analyzed and interpreted and prepared the manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/PSIJ/2015/20646 Editor(s): (1) Felix A. Buot, Center of Computational Materials Science, George Mason University, University Drive, Fairfax, Virginia, USA. (2) Igor I. Strakovsky, Center for Nuclear Studies, Dept. of Physics, The George Washington University Washington, DC, USA. (3) Abbas Mohammed, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden. Reviewers: (1) M. E. Medhat, Nuclear research Center, Cairo, Egypt. (2) Gustavo Lopez Velazquez, Universidad de Guadalajara, México. (3) El-Nabulsi Ahmad Rami, Cheju National University, South Korea. (4) Jean-Paul Auffray, New York University, New York, USA. Complete Peer review History: http://sciencedomain.org/review-history/11699 Received 2 nd August 2015 Accepted 21 st September 2015 Published 6 th October 2015 ABSTRACT Aims: The Morgan’s Lab, at Wesleyan University – Connecticut, experimentally probed the dynamics of an atom/molecule using Semi-Classical approach. The experimental setup at Morgan’s Lab is designed to generate a neutral atomic or molecular beam, which is then excited with a finely tuned laser to Rydberg states; the highest quantized energy states the electron can be in before ionization. Study Design: In this current study, the potential of the Penning Ionization Gauge (PIG) as an ion source was evaluated for the Hydrogen atom. Place and Duration of Study: Physics Department, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, USA, between June 2007 and August 2009. Methodology: The experimental setup is designed to generate a neutral atomic or molecular beam, which is then excited with a finely tuned laser to Rydberg states; the highest quantized energy states the electron can be in before ionization. The setup consists of an ion beam system consisting of a fast- metastable machine, vacuum pumping systems, an oven, a laser system consisting of a master YAG laser and a slave tunable dye laser, a second harmonic generator for doubling the frequency of the laser beam, Stark plate assembly, an ion detection system and a Original Research Article