An echo experiment in a strongly interacting Rydberg gas
Quantum Physics
2011-11-10 v2
Abstract
When ground state atoms are excited to a Rydberg state, van der Waals interactions among them can lead to a strong suppression of the excitation. Despite the strong interactions the evolution can still be reversed by a simple phase shift in the excitation laser field. We experimentally prove the coherence of the excitation in the strong blockade regime by applying an `optical rotary echo' technique to a sample of magnetically trapped ultracold atoms, analogous to a method known from nuclear magnetic resonance. We additionally measured the dephasing time due to the interaction between the Rydberg atoms.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0706.3869,
title = {An echo experiment in a strongly interacting Rydberg gas},
author = {Ulrich Raitzsch and Vera Bendkowsky and Rolf Heidemann and Björn Butscher and Robert Löw and Tilman Pfau},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0706.3869},
year = {2011}
}