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arXiv:1607.04419 · Physical Review A

Lévy statistics of interacting Rydberg gases

Thibault Vogt, Jingshan Han, Alexandre H. Thiéry, Wenhui Li

Published May 26, 2017• 2 citations
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Abstract

A statistical analysis of the laser excitation of cold and randomly distributed atoms to Rydberg states is developed. We first demonstrate with a hard-ball model that the distribution of energy level shifts in an interacting gas obeys L\'evy statistics in any dimension $d$ and for any interaction $\ensuremath{-}{C}_{p}/{R}^{p}$ under the condition $d/p<1$. This result is confirmed with a Monte Carlo rate equations simulation of the actual laser excitation in the particular case $p=6$ and $d=3$. With this finding, we develop a statistical approach for the modeling of probe light transmission through a cold atom gas driven under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency involving a Rydberg state. The simulated results are in good agreement with experiment.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.95.053418

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A statistical analysis of the laser excitation of cold and randomly distributed atoms to Rydberg states is developed. We first demonstrate with a hard-ball model that the distribution of energy level shifts in an interacting gas obeys L'evy statistics in any dimension ddd and for any interaction \ensuremath−Cp/Rp\ensuremath{-}{C}_{p}/{R}^{p}\ensuremath−Cp​/Rp under the condition d/p<1d/p<1d/p<1. This result is confirmed with a Monte Carlo rate equations simulation of the actual laser excitation in the particular case p=6p=6p=6 and d=3d=3d=3. With this finding, we develop a statistical approach for the modeling of probe light transmission through a cold atom gas driven under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency involving a Rydberg state. The simulated results are in good agreement with experiment.
Light propagation through an ensemble of ultracold Rydberg atoms in an electromagnetically-induced-transparency (EIT) configuration is studied. In strongly interacting Rydberg EIT media, nonlinear optical effects lead to a nontrivial dependence of the degree of probe-beam attenuation on the medium density and on its initial intensity. We develop a Monte Carlo rate equation model that self-consistently includes the effect of the probe-beam attenuation to investigate the steady state of the Rydberg medium driven by two laser fields. We compare our results to recent experimental data and to results of other state-of-the-art models for light propagation in Rydberg EIT media. We find that for low probe field intensities, our results match the experimental data best if a density-dependent dephasing rate is included in the model. At higher probe intensities, our model deviates from other theoretical approaches, because it predicts a spectral asymmetry together with line broadening. These are likely due to off-resonant excitation channels, which, however, have not been observed in recent experiments. Atomic motion and coupling to additional Rydberg levels are discussed as possible origins for these deviations.
In this paper, we consider the effects of strong dipole-dipole interactions on three-level interference phenomena such as coherent population trapping and electromagnetically induced transparency. Experiments are performed on laser cooled rubidium atoms and the results compared to a many-body theory based on either a reduced many-body density matrix expansion or Monte Carlo simulations of many-body rate equations. We show that these approaches permit quantitative predictions of the experimentally observed excitation and transmission spectra. Based on the calculations, we moreover predict a universal scaling of the nonlinear response of cold Rydberg gases.
Subject of this thesis is the theoretical investigation of ensembles of atoms that are coherently laser-excited to a Rydberg state. Rydberg excited atoms interact with each other over large distances, which leads to strongly correlated many-body dynamics, demanding powerful numerical tools for their modeling. The first part of the thesis deals with effective two-level atoms consisting of a ground and a Rydberg state only. For resonant laser excitation a modified scaling behavior of the excitation number is observed, which is caused by effects of finite system size and coarse graining of the medium due to the finite atomic density. For off-resonant excitation, ordered structures arise out of an initially homogeneous gas, which are reflected in strongly peaked spatial correlations and modified excitation statistics. In the second part a fast decaying intermediate level is additionally taken into account. In this situation the phenomenon of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is encountered. This effect is suppressed in the presence of strong interactions between the Rydberg atoms leading to an optical nonlinearity. A model predicting the properties of a cloud of Rydberg atoms in EIT configuration is developed. In both parts the models are validated by comparing their predictions to recent experimental observations.
Abstract We present combined measurements of the spatially resolved optical spectrum and the total excited-atom number in an ultracold gas of three-level atoms under electromagnetically induced transparency conditions involving high-lying Rydberg states. The observed optical transmission of a weak probe laser at the center of the coupling region exhibits a double peaked spectrum as a function of detuning, while the Rydberg atom number shows a comparatively narrow single resonance. By imaging the transmitted light onto a charge-coupled-device camera, we record hundreds of spectra in parallel, which are used to map out the spatial profile of Rabi frequencies of the coupling laser. Using all the information available we can reconstruct the full one-body density matrix of the three-level system, which provides the optical susceptibility and the Rydberg density as a function of spatial position. These results help elucidate the connection between three-level interference phenomena, including the interplay of matter and light degrees of freedom and will facilitate new studies of many-body effects in optically driven Rydberg gases.
Abstract We have investigated formation of structures of Rydberg atoms excited from a disordered gas of ultracold atoms, using rate equations (REs) for two-photon Rydberg excitation in a single atom without eliminating the intermediate state. We have explored the validity range of these REs and defined a simple measure to determine, whether our model is applicable for a given set of laser parameters. We have applied these REs in Monte Carlo simulations of ultracold gases, for different laser beam profiles, and compared these simulations to experimental observations and find a general agreement.
We develop an efficient Monte Carlo approach to describe the optical response of cold three-level atoms in the presence of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and strong atomic interactions. In particular, we consider a Rydberg-EIT medium where one involved level is subject to large shifts due to strong van der Waals interactions with surrounding Rydberg atoms. Agreement with much more involved quantum calculations is excellent, demonstrating its applicability over a wide range of densities and interaction strengths. The calculations show that nonlinear absorption due to Rydberg-Rydberg atom interactions exhibits universal behavior.