8,906 research outputs found
Suppression of Excitation and Spectral Broadening Induced by Interactions in a Cold Gas of Rydberg Atoms
We report on the observation of ultralong range interactions in a gas of cold
Rubidium Rydberg atoms. The van-der-Waals interaction between a pair of Rydberg
atoms separated as far as 100,000 Bohr radii features two important effects:
Spectral broadening of the resonance lines and suppression of excitation with
increasing density. The density dependence of these effects is investigated in
detail for the S- and P- Rydberg states with main quantum numbers n ~ 60 and n
~ 80 excited by narrow-band continuous-wave laser light. The density-dependent
suppression of excitation can be interpreted as the onset of an
interaction-induced local blockade
Many-body Rabi oscillations of Rydberg excitation in small mesoscopic samples
We investigate the collective aspects of Rydberg excitation in ultracold
mesoscopic systems. Strong interactions between Rydberg atoms influence the
excitation process and impose correlations between excited atoms. The
manifestations of the collective behavior of Rydberg excitation are the
many-body Rabi oscillations, spatial correlations between atoms as well as the
fluctuations of the number of excited atoms. We study these phenomena in detail
by numerically solving the many-body Schr\"edinger equation.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Fano Lineshapes Revisited: Symmetric Photoionization Peaks from Pure Continuum Excitation
In a photoionization spectrum in which there is no excitation of the discrete
states, but only the underlying continuum, we have observed resonances which
appear as symmetric peaks, not the commonly expected window resonances.
Furthermore, since the excitation to the unperturbed continuum vanishes, the
cross section expected from Fano's configuration interaction theory is
identically zero. This shortcoming is removed by the explicit introduction of
the phase shifted continuum, which demonstrates that the shape of a resonance,
by itself, provides no information about the relative excitation amplitudes to
the discrete state and the continuum.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Observation of a resonant four-body interaction in cold cesium Rydberg atoms
Cold Rydberg atoms subject to long-range dipole-dipole interactions represent
a particularly interesting system for exploring few-body interactions and
probing the transition from 2-body physics to the many-body regime. In this
work we report the direct observation of a resonant 4-body Rydberg interaction.
We exploit the occurrence of an accidental quasi-coincidence of a 2-body and a
4-body resonant Stark-tuned Forster process in cesium to observe a resonant
energy transfer requiring the simultaneous interaction of at least four
neighboring atoms. These results are relevant for the implementation of quantum
gates with Rydberg atoms and for further studies of many-body physics.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Detrimental adsorbate fields in experiments with cold Rydberg gases near surfaces
We observe the shift of Rydberg levels of rubidium close to a copper surface
when atomic clouds are repeatedly deposited on it. We measure transition
frequencies of rubidium to S and D Rydberg states with principal quantum
numbers n between 31 and 48 using the technique of electromagnetically induced
transparency. The spectroscopic measurement shows a strong increase of electric
fields towards the surface that evolves with the deposition of atoms. Starting
with a clean surface, we measure the evolution of electrostatic fields in the
range between 30 and 300 \mum from the surface. We find that after the
deposition of a few hundred atomic clouds, each containing ~10^6 atoms, the
field of adsorbates reaches 1 V/cm for a distance of 30 \mum from the surface.
This evolution of the electrostatic field sets serious limitations on cavity
QED experiments proposed for Rydberg atoms on atom chips.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Many-body theory of excitation dynamics in an ultracold Rydberg gas
We develop a theoretical approach for the dynamics of Rydberg excitations in
ultracold gases, with a realistically large number of atoms. We rely on the
reduction of the single-atom Bloch equations to rate equations, which is
possible under various experimentally relevant conditions. Here, we explicitly
refer to a two-step excitation-scheme. We discuss the conditions under which
our approach is valid by comparing the results with the solution of the exact
quantum master equation for two interacting atoms. Concerning the emergence of
an excitation blockade in a Rydberg gas, our results are in qualitative
agreement with experiment. Possible sources of quantitative discrepancy are
carefully examined. Based on the two-step excitation scheme, we predict the
occurrence of an antiblockade effect and propose possible ways to detect this
excitation enhancement experimentally in an optical lattice as well as in the
gas phase.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure
Mechanical effect of van der Waals interactions observed in real time in an ultracold Rydberg gas
We present time-resolved spectroscopic measurements of Rydberg-Rydberg
interactions in an ultracold gas, revealing the pair dynamics induced by
long-range van der Waals interactions between the atoms. By detuning the
excitation laser, a specific pair distribution is prepared. Penning ionization
on a microsecond timescale serves as a probe for the pair dynamics under the
influence of the attractive long-range forces. Comparison with a Monte Carlo
model not only explains all spectroscopic features but also gives quantitative
information about the interaction potentials. The results imply that the
interaction-induced ionization rate can be influenced by the excitation laser.
Surprisingly, interaction-induced ionization is also observed for Rydberg
states with purely repulsive interactions
Half Cycle Pulse Train Induced State Redistribution of Rydberg Atoms
Population transfer between low lying Rydberg states independent of the
initial state is realized using a train of half-cycle pulses with pulse
durations much less than the classical orbit period. We demonstrate
experimentally the transfer of population from initial states around n=50 down
to n<40 as well as up to the continuum. The measured population transfer
matches well to a model of the process for 1D atoms.Comment: V2: discussion extended, version accepted for publication in Physical
Review
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