Cold and ultracold Rydberg atoms in strong magnetic fields

Cold Rydberg atoms exposed to strong magnetic fields possess unique properties which open the pathway for an intriguing many-body dynamics taking place in Rydberg gases, consisting of either matter or anti-matter systems. We review both the foundations and recent developments of the field in the cold and ultracold regime where trapping and cooling of Rydberg atoms have become possible. Exotic states of moving Rydberg atoms, such as giant dipole states, are discussed in detail, including their formation mechanisms in a strongly magnetized cold plasma. Inhomogeneous field configurations influence the electronic structure of Rydberg atoms, and we describe the utility of corresponding effects for achieving tightly trapped ultracold Rydberg atoms. We review recent work on large, extended cold Rydberg gases in magnetic fields and their formation in strongly magnetized ultracold plasmas through collisional recombination. Implications of these results for current antihydrogen production experiments are pointed out, and techniques for the trapping and cooling of such atoms are investigated.     

铯47D精细能级超冷里德堡原子自由演化的动力学研究

用连续窄线宽激光器将超冷铯里德堡原子分别激发到47D_3/2, 47D_5/2精细态, 观察了处于里德堡精细态的铯原子向超冷铯等离子体自由演化的过程, 详细对比了不同精细态的铯里德堡原子预电离时间、电离速率以及等离子体的转化效率. 将里德堡原子快速转化为等离子体的过程解释为局域势阱内由预电离产生的电子与里德堡原子的快速碰撞导致的雪崩电离.     

Spectroscopy of the three-photon laser excitation of cold Rubidium Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap

The spectra of the three-photon laser excitation 5S _1/2 → 5P _3/2 → 6S _1/2 nP of cold Rb Rydberg atoms in an operating magneto-optical trap based on continuous single-frequency lasers at each stage are studied. These spectra contain two partly overlapping peaks of different amplitudes, which correspond to coherent three-photon excitation and incoherent three-step excitation due to the presence of two different ways of excitation through the dressed states of intermediate levels. A four-level theoretical model based on optical Bloch equations is developed to analyze these spectra. Good agreement between the experimental and calculated data is achieved by introducing additional decay of optical coherence induced by a finite laser line width and other broadening sources (stray electromagnetic fields, residual Doppler broadening, interatomic interactions) into the model.     

Local blockade of Rydberg excitation in an ultracold gas

In the laser excitation of ultracold atoms to Rydberg states, we observe a dramatic suppression caused by van der Waals interactions. This behavior is interpreted as a local excitation blockade: Rydberg atoms strongly inhibit excitation of their neighbors. We measure suppression, relative to isolated atom excitation, by up to a factor of 6.4. The dependences of this suppression on both laser irradiance and atomic density are in good agreement with a mean-field model. These results are an important step towards using ultracold Rydberg atoms in quantum information processing.     

Dynamics of resonant energy transfer in a cold Rydberg gas

We investigate excitation transfer and migration processes in a cold gas of rubidium Rydberg atoms. Density-dependent measurements of the resonant population exchange for atoms initially excited into the 32P_3/2(|m_J|=3/2) state are compared with a Monte Carlo model for coherent energy transfer. The model is based on simulations of small atom subensembles involving up to ten atoms interacting via coherent pair processes. The role of interatomic mechanical forces due to the resonant dipole-dipole interaction is investigated. Good agreement is found between the experimental data and the predictions of the model, from which we infer that atomic motion has negligible influence on the energy transfer up to Rydberg densities of 10⁸ cm^-3, that the system has to be described in terms of many-body dynamics, and that the energy transfer preserves coherence on microsecond timescales.     

Three-photon resonance enhanced excitation spectrum of atomic thallium

We present first measurements on the resonance enhanced three-photon excitation in thallium, using a Nd:YAG laser pumped dye laser in conjunction with a thermionic diode ion detector. The even-parity 6s²ns²S_1/2 (15 ? n ? 31) and nd ²D_5/2 (13 ? n ? 42) Rydberg states have been observed. The measured level energies reveal a dynamic shift from the photoabsorption values, which is decreasing with increasing n, while the asymmetry in the line profile is observed to be increasing with increasing n. In addition, an autoionising level (sp²⁴P_3/2) adjacent to the ionization threshold has been observed and quantitatively analyzed using the Fano’s photoionization cross-section relation for an isolated autoionising resonance.     

Autoionization of an ultracold Rydberg gas through resonant dipole coupling

We investigate a possible mechanism for the autoionization of ultracold Rydberg gases, based on the resonant coupling of Rydberg pair states to the ionization continuum. Unlike an atomic collision where the wave functions begin to overlap, the mechanism considered here involves only the long-range dipole interaction and is in principle possible in a static system. It is related to the process of intermolecular Coulombic decay (ICD). In addition, we include the interaction-induced motion of the atoms and the effect of multi-particle systems in this work. We find that the probability for this ionization mechanism can be increased in many-particle systems featuring attractive or repulsive van der Waals interactions. However, the rates for ionization through resonant dipole coupling are very low. It is thus unlikely that this process contributes to the autoionization of Rydberg gases in the form presented here, but it may still act as a trigger for secondary ionization processes. As our picture involves only binary interactions, it remains to be investigated if collective effects of an ensemble of atoms can significantly influence the ionization probability. Nevertheless our calculations may serve as a starting point for the investigation of more complex systems, such as the coupling of many pair states proposed in [P.J. Tanner et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 043002 (2008)].     

Observation of the Dipole Blockade Effect in Detecting Rydberg Atoms by the Selective Field Ionization Method

The dipole blockade effect at laser excitation of mesoscopic ensembles of Rydberg atoms lies in the fact that the excitation of one atom to a Rydberg state blocks the excitation of other atoms due to the shift in the collective energy levels of interacting Rydberg atoms. It is used to obtain the entangled qubit states based on single neutral atoms in optical traps. In this paper, we present our experimental results on the observation of the dipole blockade for mesoscopic ensembles of 1–5 atoms when they are detected by the selective field ionization method. We have investigated the spectra of the three-photon laser excitation 5S1/2 → 5P3/2 → 6S1/2 → nP3/2 of cold Rydberg Rb atoms in a magneto-optical trap. We have found that for mesoscopic ensembles this method allows only a partial dipole blockage to be observed. This is most likely related to the presence of parasitic electric fields reducing the interaction energy of Rydberg atoms, the decrease in the probability of detecting high states, and the strong angular dependence of the interaction energy of Rydberg atoms in a single interaction volume.     

Electric-field induced dipole blockade with Rydberg atoms

High resolution laser Stark excitation of np (60相似文献   

Mixture of ultracold lithium and cesium atoms in an optical dipole trap

We present the first simultaneous trapping of two different ultracold atomic species in a conservative trap. Lithium and cesium atoms are stored in an optical dipole trap formed by the focus of a CO₂ laser. Techniques for loading both species of atoms are discussed and observations of elastic and inelastic collisions between the two species are presented. A model for sympathetic cooling of two species with strongly different mass in the presence of slow evaporation is developed. From the observed Cs-induced evaporation of Li atoms we estimate a cross-section for cold elastic Li-Cs collisions. Received: 1 August 2001 / Published online: 23 November 2001     

An experimental approach for investigating many-body phenomena in Rydberg-interacting quantum systems

Recent developments in the study of ultracold Rydberg gases demand an adwanced level of experimental sophistication, in which high atomic and optical densities must be combined with excellent control of external fields and sensitive Rydberg atom detection. We describe a tailored experimental system used to produce and study Rydberg-interacting atoms excited from dense ultracold atomic gases. The experiment has been optimized for fast duty cycles using a high flux cold atom source and a three beam optical dipole trap. The latter enables tuning of the atomic density and temperature over several orders of magnitude, all the way to the Bose--Einstein condensation transition. An elec- trode structure surrounding the atoms allows for precise control over electric fields and single-particle sensitive field ionization detection of Rydberg atoms. We review two experiments which highlight the influence of strong Rydberg---Rydberg interactions on different many-body systems. First, the Rydberg blockade effect is used to pre-structure an atomic gas prior to its spontaneous evolution into an ultracold plasma. Second, hybrid states of photons and atoms called dark-state polaritons are studied. By looking at the statistical distribution of Rydberg excited atoms we reveal correlations between dark-state polaritons. These experiments will ultimately provide a deeper understanding of many-body phenomena in strongly-interacting regimes, including the study of strongly-coupled plasmas and interfaces between atoms and light at the quantum level.     

Resonance lonization mass spectroscopy with a pulsed thermal atomic beam

Resonance ionization mass spectroscopy (RIMS) and pulsed-laser induced desorption (PLID) have been combined for ultrasensitive detection and spectroscopy of very small samples of refractive elements. The method has been tested and applied to laser spectroscopy of 5×10⁹ atoms (1.5 pg) of¹⁹⁵Au (T _1/2= 183d) implanted at the ISOLDE online mass separator with 60 keV into graphite. A pulsed thermal atomic beam was formed by laser desorption with a 10 ns NdYag laser pulse. Subsequently the atoms were photoionized in a three-colour, three-step resonant excitation to an autoionizing state. The selectivity was enhanced by a time-of-flight measurement of the photo ions. In resonance, one ion was detected per 10⁵ atoms implanted resulting in a gain in detection efficiency by three orders of magnitude in comparison to the use of a continuous atomic beam. In the course of the experiments several unknown autoionizing states were found, and the lifetime of the 6d ² D ^3/2 state of gold was determined to be=10.7(6) ns.     

Kinetic energy oscillations in annular regions of ultracold neutral plasmas

A study of ion equilibration in annular regions of ultracold strontium plasmas is reported. Plasmas are formed by photoionizing laser-cooled atoms with a pulsed dye laser. The experimental probe is spatially-resolved absorption spectroscopy using the ²S_1/2-²P_1/2 transition of the Sr⁺ ion. The kinetic energy of the ions is calculated from the Doppler broadening of the spectrum, and it displays clear oscillations during the first microsecond after plasma formation. The oscillations, which are a characteristic of strong coulomb coupling, are fit with a simple phenomenological model incorporating damping and density variation in the plasma.     

Experimental Research of Spontaneous Evolution from Ultracold Rydberg Atoms to Plasma

The spontaneous evolution from ultracold Rydberg atoms to plasma is investigated in a caesium MOT by using the method of field ionization. The plasma transferred from atoms in different Rydberg states （n = 22-32） are obtained experimentally. Dependence of the threshold time of evolving to plasma and the threshold number of initial Rydberg atoms on the principal quantum number of initial Rydberg states is studied. The experimental results are in agreement with hot-cold Rydberg-Rydberg atom collision ionization theory.     

Polyatomic molecules formed with a Rydberg atom in an ultracold environment

We investigate properties of ultralong-range polyatomic molecules formed with a Rb Rydberg atom and several ground-state atoms whose distance from the Rydberg atom is of the order of n²a₀, where n is the principle quantum number of the Rydberg electron. In particular, we put emphasis on the splitting of the energy levels, and elucidate the nature of the splitting via the construction of symmetry-adapted orbitals.     

Long-range Rydberg-Rydberg interactions and molecular resonances

We present a detailed theoretical treatment to describe the lineshape of molecular resonances in a cold dense gas of rubidium Rydberg atoms. Molecular potentials in Hund's case (c) are calculated by diagonalization of an interaction matrix. We show how the strong ℓ-mixing due to long-range Rydberg-Rydberg interactions can lead to resonances in excitation spectra. Such resonances were first reported in [S.M. Farooqi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 183002 (2003)], where single UV photon excitations from the 5s ground state occurred at energies corresponding to normally forbidden transitions or very far detuned from the atomic energies. Here, we focus our attention on resonances at energies corresponding to excited atom pairs (n - 1)p_3/2+(n + 1)p_3/2. Very good agreement between the theoretical and experimental lineshapes is found.     

Resonantly enhanced three-photon excitation spectra of lithium

We present the first measurement on the resonantly enhanced three-photon excitation spectra of natural lithium using a Nd:YAG laser pumped dye laser in conjunction with a thermionic diode ion detector. Exploiting the linear and circular polarizations, the np ²P_3/2(8 ? n ? 11) and nf  ²F_7/2 (8 ? n ? 38) series have been observed via three-photon excitation from the ground state. The measured level energies reveal a dynamic shift from calculated values, which increases with an increase of the principal quantum number n. The ac stark shift and line broadening mechanisms are studied as a function of laser intensity. It is noted that the width increases and the line center shifts towards the higher energy side as the laser intensity is increased. The maximum observed shift for the 12f ²F_7/2 line is 0.33 cm⁻¹ corresponding to the laser intensity variation from 1.34 × 10¹² W/m² to 1.03 × 10¹³ W/m², whereas its width increases from 0.36 cm⁻¹ to 0.82 cm⁻¹.     

Laser diagnostics of the energy spectrum of Rydberg states of the lithium-7 atom

The spectra of excited lithium-7 atoms prepared in a magneto-optical trap are studied using a UV laser. The laser diagnostics of the energy of Rydberg atoms is developed based on measurements of the change in resonance fluorescence intensity of ultracold atoms as the exciting UV radiation frequency passes through the Rydberg transition frequency. The energies of various nS configurations are obtained in a broad range of the principal quantum number n from 38 to 165. The values of the quantum defect and ionization energy obtained in experiments and predicted theoretically are discussed.     

调制激光场中Rydberg原子的电磁感应透明

本文主要研究了调制探测激光场中铯Rydberg 原子阶梯型三能级系统的电磁感应透明(EIT) 效应. 铯原子基态6S_1/2, 第一激发态6P_3/2 和Rydberg 态形成阶梯型三能级系统, 探测光作用于6S_1/2 (F = 4)→6P_3/2(F' = 5) 的跃迁, 耦合光在Rydberg 跃迁线6P_3/2→49S_1/2 附近扫描, 形成Rydberg 原子EIT. 当对探测光频率施加一个几kHz 的调制时, 调制解调后的EIT 信号分裂为两个峰, 双峰间距与调制频率无关,而与调制幅度导致的失谐量大小(频率调制幅度) 成正比, 双峰间隔的一半等于探测光频率调制幅度的λ_p/λ_c = 1.67 倍. 实验结果与理论计算相一致. 本文的研究结果可应用于激光线型和频率抖动的实时监测.     

Laser cooling of 7Li atoms in a magneto-optical trap

A setup for laser cooling and confining of ⁷Li atoms in a magneto-optical trap has been built. The possibility of cooling and trapping of ⁷Li atoms in a wide range of frequency detuning of the cooling laser has been proved experimentally. Independent information on the density and number of ultracold ⁷Li atoms on various ground-state sublevels, as well as on the temperature of the atoms, has been obtained with the use of a probing tunable laser. This information is important for preparing an ultracold plasma and Rydberg matter.