Cooperative Excitation and Many-Body Interactions in a Cold Rydberg Gas

Year: 2012

Authors: Viteau M., Huillery P., Bason M.G., Malossi N., Ciampini D., Morsch O., Arimondo E., Comparat D., Pillet P.

Autors Affiliation: INO-CNR, Largo Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy Laboratoire Aimé Cotton, Université Paris-Sud, Bĝtiment 505, 91405 Orsay, France Dipartimento di Fisica E. Fermi, Università di Pisa, Largo Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy; CNISM UdR, Dipartimento di Fisica E. Fermi, Università di Pisa, Largo Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy

Abstract: The dipole blockade of Rydberg excitations is a hallmark of the strong interactions between atoms in these high-lying quantum states [M. Saffman, T. G. Walker, and K. Molmer, Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 2313 (2010); D. Comparat and P. Pillet, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 27, A208 (2010)]. One of the consequences of the dipole blockade is the suppression of fluctuations in the counting statistics of Rydberg excitations, of which some evidence has been found in previous experiments. Here we present experimental results on the dynamics and the counting statistics of Rydberg excitations of ultracold rubidium atoms both on and off resonance, which exhibit sub-and super-Poissonian counting statistics, respectively. We compare our results with numerical simulations using a novel theoretical model based on Dicke states of Rydberg atoms including dipole-dipole interactions, finding good agreement between experiment and theory.

Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Volume: 109 (5)      Pages from: 53002-1  to: 53002-5

More Information: This work was supported by the EU through Grants No. 225187-NAMEQUAM and No. 265031-ITN-COHERENCE and the collaboration between University of Pisa and University of Paris-Sud 11. The authors thank M. Allegrini, R. Cote, P. Grangier, T. Pohl, M. Saffman, J. Stanojevic, and M. Weidemuller for useful discussions and J. Radogostowicz for assistance.
KeyWords: Blockade; Coherence
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.053002

Citations: 60
data from “WEB OF SCIENCE” (of Thomson Reuters) are update at: 2024-11-17
References taken from IsiWeb of Knowledge: (subscribers only)
Connecting to view paper tab on IsiWeb: Click here
Connecting to view citations from IsiWeb: Click here