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arXiv:2310.20687 · Physical Review A

Controlled dissipation for Rydberg atom experiments

Bleuenn Bégoc, Giovanni Cichelli, Sukhjit Paul Paul Singh, Fabio Bensch, Valerio Amico, Francesco Perciavalle, Davide Rossini, Luigi Amico A, O. Morsch

Published Jul 21, 2025• 11 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We demonstrate a simple technique for adding controlled dissipation to Rydberg atom experiments. In our experiments we excite cold rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap to $70$-S Rydberg states, whilst simultaneously inducing forced dissipation by resonantly coupling the Rydberg state to a hyperfine level of the short-lived $6$-P state. The resulting effective dissipation can be varied in strength and switched on and off during a single experimental cycle.

DOI
10.1103/w3x9-ll79

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We demonstrate a simple technique for adding controlled dissipation to Rydberg atom experiments. In our experiments we excite cold rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap to 707070-S Rydberg states, whilst simultaneously inducing forced dissipation by resonantly coupling the Rydberg state to a hyperfine level of the short-lived 666-P state. The resulting effective dissipation can be varied in strength and switched on and off during a single experimental cycle.
This paper reports on the results of experiments with cold rubidium Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap. The specific feature of the experiments is the excitation of Rydberg atoms in a small volume within a cloud of cold atoms and the sorting of measured signals and spectra according to the number of detected Rydberg atoms. The effective lifetime of the 37 P Rydberg state and its polarizability in a weak electric field are measured. The results obtained are in good agreement with theoretical calculations. It is demonstrated that the localization of the excitation volume in the vicinity of the zero-magnetic-field point makes it possible to improve the spectral resolution and to obtain narrow microwave resonances in Rydberg atoms without switching off the quadrupole magnetic field of the trap. The dependence of the amplitude of dipole-dipole interaction resonances in Rydberg atoms on the number of atoms is measured. This dependence exhibits a linear behavior and agrees with the theory for a weak dipole-dipole interaction.
We have measured the radiative lifetimes of ns, np and nd Rydberg states of rubidium in the range 28 < n < 45. To enable long-lived states to be measured, our experiment uses slow-moving Rb atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Two experimental techniques have been adopted to reduce random and systematic errors. First, a narrow-bandwidth pulsed laser is used to excite the target Rydberg state, resulting in minimal shot-to-shot variation in the initial state population. Second, we monitor the target state population as a function of time delay from the laser pulse using a short-duration, millimetre-wave pulse that is resonant with a one- or two-photon transition. We then selectively field ionize the monitor state, and detect the resulting electrons with a micro-channel plate. This signal is an accurate mirror of the target state population, and is uncontaminated by contributions from other states which are populated by black body radiation. Our results are generally consistent with other recent experimental results obtained using a less sensitive method, and are also in excellent agreement with theory.
We present experimental results on the controlled deexcitation 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 deexcitation spectrum and dynamics. Our observations are confirmed by numerical simulations. In particular, for off-resonant (facilitated) excitation we find that the deexcitation spectrum reflects the spatial arrangement of the atoms in the quasi-one-dimensional geometry of our experiment. We discuss future applications of this technique and implications for detection and controlled dissipation schemes.
A free-running, temperature stabilized diode laser has been injection-locked to an external cavity diode laser for use in cold Rydberg atom experiments. Cold rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) are excited to Rydberg states using a 10 ns laser pulse. The Rydberg atoms spontaneously ionize due to dipole forces, and the collisional ionization dynamics are observed as a function of atom density and principal quantum number of the Rydberg state, n. The injection-locked diode laser will be used as a repumper in conjunction with a dark spontaneous-force optical trap (SPOT) to increase the Rydberg state density. We report on the design of the injection-locked laser system.
During the course of this PhD an experimental set-up has been designed and implemented to confine neutral atoms in microscopic dipole traps and to manipulate their internal states by laser excitation to Rydberg states. A lot of effort was devoted to the stabilization of the laser sources for two-photon excitation to the Rydberg states, using techniques based on modulation transfer spectroscopy and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). Taking advantage of the EIT spectroscopy scheme, we have measured for the first time the electric dipole moments for the transitions between the first excited 5P3/2 and Rydberg nDS/2 level of rubidium. These measurements provided benchmarking of existing theoretical models to calculate the reduced matrix elements and have helped us to identify the D'yachkov Pankratov method as a particularly reliable one. Therefore we made use of the existing code to calculate the relative radial matrix elements for bound-bound, bound-free and free-free transitions between arbitrary states of alkali atoms. Our results allowed us to identify many features of interest and several Cooper minima have been revealed for the first time. The preparation of a new apparatus required ultra-high vacuum for efficient laser cooling and trapping experiments. A unique 4-beam magneto-optical trap has been designed and implemented in our new system. The tetrahedral MOT operating at a very acute beams angle has been demonstrated for the first time. The characterisation of the basic properties of our MOT has highlighted. some interesting new cooling mechanisms that do not fully match existing theoretical models and will require further investigation. It has been demonstrated that our tetrahedral MOT is suitable to prepare cold, diluted reservoirs of atoms and therefore efficiently load our microscopic dipole trap.