128 research outputs found
An experimental and theoretical guide to strongly interacting Rydberg gases
We review experimental and theoretical tools to excite, study and understand
strongly interacting Rydberg gases. The focus lies on the excitation of dense
ultracold atomic samples close to, or within quantum degeneracy, to high lying
Rydberg states. The major part is dedicated to highly excited S-states of
Rubidium, which feature an isotropic van-der-Waals potential. Nevertheless, the
setup and the methods presented are also applicable to other atomic species
used in the field of laser cooling and atom trapping.Comment: 23 pages, 22 figures, tutoria
Rydberg trimers and excited dimers bound by internal quantum reflection
Quantum reflection is a pure wave phenomena that predicts reflection of a
particle at a changing potential for cases where complete transmission occurs
classically. For a chemical bond, we find that this effect can lead to
non-classical vibrational turning points and bound states at extremely large
interatomic distances. Only recently has the existence of such ultralong-range
Rydberg molecules been demonstrated experimentally. Here, we identify a broad
range of molecular lines, most of which are shown to originate from two
different novel sources: a single-photon associated triatomic molecule formed
by a Rydberg atom and two ground state atoms and a series of excited dimer
states that are bound by a so far unexplored mechanism based on internal
quantum reflection at a steep potential drop. The properties of the Rydberg
molecules identified in this work qualify them as prototypes for a new type of
chemistry at ultracold temperatures.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
Lifetimes of ultralong-range Rydberg molecules in vibrational ground and excited state
Since their first experimental observation, ultralong-range Rydberg molecules
consisting of a highly excited Rydberg atom and a ground state atom have
attracted the interest in the field of ultracold chemistry. Especially the
intriguing properties like size, polarizability and type of binding they
inherit from the Rydberg atom are of interest. An open question in the field is
the reduced lifetime of the molecules compared to the corresponding atomic
Rydberg states. In this letter we present an experimental study on the
lifetimes of the ^3\Sigma (5s-35s) molecule in its vibrational ground state and
in an excited state. We show that the lifetimes depends on the density of
ground state atoms and that this can be described in the frame of a classical
scattering between the molecules and ground state atoms. We also find that the
excited molecular state has an even more reduced lifetime compared to the
ground state which can be attributed to an inward penetration of the bound
atomic pair due to imperfect quantum reflection that takes place in the special
shape of the molecular potential
Ion detection in the photoionization of a Rb Bose-Einstein condensate
Two-photon ionization of Rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap and a
Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is experimentally investigated. Using 100 ns
laser pulses, we detect single ions photoionized from the condenstate with a
35(10)% efficiency. The measurements are performed using a quartz cell with
external electrodes, allowing large optical access for BECs and optical
lattices.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
Formation and interactions of cold and ultracold molecules: new challenges for interdisciplinary physics
Progress on researches in the field of molecules at cold and ultracold
temperatures is reported in this review. It covers extensively the experimental
methods to produce, detect and characterize cold and ultracold molecules
including association of ultracold atoms, deceleration by external fields and
kinematic cooling. Confinement of molecules in different kinds of traps is also
discussed. The basic theoretical issues related to the knowledge of the
molecular structure, the atom-molecule and molecule-molecule mutual
interactions, and to their possible manipulation and control with external
fields, are reviewed. A short discussion on the broad area of applications
completes the review.Comment: to appear in Reports on Progress in Physic
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