Dipole blockade between symmetric combinations of Rydberg Stark states

T. Bragdon, Elena Kuznetsova, Susanne F. Yelin

Thibault Vogt, Matthieu Viteau, Amodsen Chotia +3 more

High resolution laser Stark excitation of np (60<n<85) Rydberg states of ultracold cesium atoms shows an efficient blockade of the excitation attributed to long-range dipole-dipole interaction. The dipole blockade effect is observed as a quenching of the Rydberg excitation depending on the value of the dipole moment induced by the external electric field. Effects of ions which could match the dipole blockade effect are discussed in detail but are ruled out for our experimental conditions. Analytic and Monte Carlo simulations of the excitation of an ensemble of interacting Rydberg atoms agree with the experiments and indicate a major role of the nearest neighboring Rydberg atom.

Thomas F. Gallagher, P. Pillet

Thibault Vogt, Matthieu Viteau, Jianming Zhao +3 more

High resolution laser excitation of np Rydberg states of cesium atoms shows a dipole blockade at Förster resonances corresponding to the resonant dipole-dipole energy transfer of the np + np → ns + (n + 1)s reaction. The dipole-dipole interaction can be tuned on and off by the Stark effect, and such a process observed for relatively low n (25 − 41) is promising for quantum gate devices. Both Penning ionization and saturation in the laser excitation can limit the range of observation of the dipole blockade

Erik Urban, T. A. Johnson, Thomas Henage +4 more

Robert R. Lewis, Araceli Góngora