Related papers: The ZEKE-effect in cold Rydberg gases
We propose to track position and velocity of mobile Rydberg excited impurity atoms through the elastic interactions of the Rydberg electron with a host condensate. Tracks first occur in the condensate phase, but are then naturally converted…
We propose a novel type of Rydberg dimer, consisting of a Rydberg-state atom bound to a distant positive ion. The molecule is formed through long-range electric-multipole interaction between the Rydberg atom and the point-like ion. We…
Assemblies of highly excited Rydberg atoms in an ultracold gas can be set into motion by a combination of van-der-Waals and resonant dipole-dipole interactions. Thereby, the collective electronic Rydberg state might change due to…
Starting from a set of coupled Boltzmann equations, we investigate the thermalization of a two-species cold atomic gas confined either in a box or in an isotropic harmonic trap. We show that the thermalization times, by contrast to the…
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…
The dipole blockade of multiple Rydberg excitations in mesoscopic atomic ensembles allows the implementation of various quantum information tasks using collective states of cold, trapped atoms. Precise coherent manipulations of the…
Atoms in highly excited Rydberg states exhibit remarkable properties and constitute a powerful tool for studying quantum phenomena in strongly interacting many-particle systems. We investigate alkali atoms that are held in a ring lattice…
We perform a comprehensive investigation of the coupling between a Rydberg-dressed atomic gas and an ultra-cold plasma. Using simultaneous time-resolved measurements of both neutral atoms and ions, we show that plasma formation occurs via a…
We propose to sympathetically slow and cool polar molecules in a cold, low-density beam using laser-cooled Rydberg atoms. The elastic collision cross sections between molecules and Rydberg atoms are large enough to efficiently thermalize…
Rydberg atoms immersed in a Bose-Einstein condensate interact with the quantum gas via electron-atom and ion-atom interaction. To suppress the typically dominant electron-neutral interaction, Rydberg states with principal quantum number up…
We report on the realization of long-range Ising interactions in a cold gas of cesium atoms by Rydberg dressing. The interactions are enhanced by coupling to Rydberg states in the vicinity of a F\"{o}rster resonance. We characterize the…
The interaction between a Rydberg electron and a neutral atom situated inside its extended orbit is described via contact interactions for each atom-electron scattering channel. In ultracold environments, these interactions lead to…
We propose a new approach to excite ion-pair states of ultracold dimers. The central idea is a two-step process where first long-range Rydberg molecules are formed by photoassociation, which are then driven by stimulated emission towards…
We experimentally demonstrate an original method to measure very accurately the density of a frozen Rydberg gas. It is based on the use of adiabatic transitions induced by the long-range dipole-dipole interaction in pairs of nearest…
Radio-frequency reflectometry, which probes small changes in the electrical impedance of a device, provides a useful method for sensitive and fast detection of dynamic processes in quantum systems. We use this method to detect excitation of…
We consider inter-atomic forces due to resonant dipole-dipole interactions within a dimer of highly excited Rydberg atoms, embedded in an ultra-cold gas. These forces rely on a coherent superposition of two-atom electronic states, which is…
We present experimental results on the controlled de-excitation of Rydberg states in a cold gas of Rb atoms. The effect of the van der Waals interactions between the Rydberg atoms is clearly seen in the de-excitation spectrum and dynamics.…
We report the observation of spin-singlet ultra-long range Rydberg butterfly molecules consisting of a ground-state atom bound to a Rydberg atom by $P$-wave scattering of $^{87}$Rb Rydberg electrons from $^{87}$Rb(5s) atoms. A three-photon…
We discuss the properties of Rydberg atoms in a magnetic Ioffe-Pritchard trap being commonly used in ultracold atomic physics experiments. The Hamiltonian is derived and it is demonstrated how tight traps alter the coupling of the atom to…
Rydberg states of atoms are of great current interest for quantum manipulation of mesoscopic samples of atoms. Long-range Rydberg-Rydberg interactions can inhibit multiple excitations of atoms under the appropriate conditions. These…