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arXiv:physics/0404075 · Physical Review Letters

Suppression of Excitation and Spectral Broadening Induced by Interactions in a Cold Gas of Rydberg Atoms

Kilian Singer, M. Reetz‐Lamour, Thomas Amthor, Luís Gustavo Marcassa, Matthias Weidemüller

Published Oct 13, 2004• 411 citations
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Abstract

We report on the observation of ultralong range interactions in a gas of cold rubidium Rydberg atoms. The van der Waals interaction between a pair of Rydberg atoms separated as far as 100,000 Bohr radii features two important effects: spectral broadening of the resonance lines and suppression of excitation with increasing density. The density dependence of these effects is investigated in detail for the S- and P-Rydberg states with principal quantum numbers n approximately 60 and n approximately 80 excited by narrow-band continuous-wave laser light. The density-dependent suppression of excitation can be interpreted as the onset of an interaction-induced local blockade.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.93.163001

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We report on the observation of ultralong range interactions in a gas of cold rubidium Rydberg atoms. The van der Waals interaction between a pair of Rydberg atoms separated as far as 100,000 Bohr radii features two important effects: spectral broadening of the resonance lines and suppression of excitation with increasing density. The density dependence of these effects is investigated in detail for the S- and P-Rydberg states with principal quantum numbers n approximately 60 and n approximately 80 excited by narrow-band continuous-wave laser light. The density-dependent suppression of excitation can be interpreted as the onset of an interaction-induced local blockade.
We review our recent experiments on interaction‐induced effects in a gas of Rydberg atoms excited from a laser‐cooled rubidium cloud. The van‐der‐Waals interaction between a pair of Rydberg atoms separated as far as 100,000 Bohr radii features two important effects: Spectral broadening of the resonance lines and suppression of excitation with increasing Rydberg density. The line broadenings are interpreted in terms of level shifts of Rydberg pairs due to their interaction. The density‐dependent suppression of excitation marks the onset of an interaction‐induced local blockade.
In the laser excitation of ultracold atoms to Rydberg states, we observe a dramatic suppression caused by van der Waals interactions. This behavior is interpreted as a local excitation blockade: Rydberg atoms strongly inhibit excitation of their neighbors. We measure suppression, relative to isolated atom excitation, by up to a factor of 6.4. The dependences of this suppression on both laser irradiance and atomic density are in good agreement with a mean-field model. These results are an important step towards using ultracold Rydberg atoms in quantum information processing.
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The authors report the first observation of spectral line perturbations, due to van der Waals coupling between very excited atoms, in a sample where the average interatomic distance is about 15 times the Rydberg atom radius. Broadenings of the order of intervals between adjacent lines reveal Rydberg-Rydberg couplings no longer negligible compared with the atomic binding energy. The authors analyse the excitation mechanism of this 'dense Rydberg gas' by laser light non-resonant for the unperturbed atoms.