Evidence of Antiblockade in an Ultracold Rydberg Gas

Thomas Amthor, Christian Giese, Christoph S. Hofmann, and Matthias Weidemüller
Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 013001 – Published 8 January 2010

Abstract

We present the experimental observation of the antiblockade in an ultracold Rydberg gas recently proposed by Ates et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 023002 (2007)]. Our approach allows the control of the pair distribution in the gas and is based on a strong coupling of one transition in an atomic three-level system, while introducing specific detunings of the other transition. When the coupling energy matches the interaction energy of the Rydberg long-range interactions, the otherwise blocked excitation of close pairs becomes possible. A time-resolved spectroscopic measurement of the Penning ionization signal is used to identify slight variations in the Rydberg pair distribution of a random arrangement of atoms. A model based on a pair interaction Hamiltonian is presented which well reproduces our experimental observations and allows one to deduce the distribution of nearest-neighbor distances.

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  • Received 27 August 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.013001

©2010 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Thomas Amthor*, Christian Giese, Christoph S. Hofmann, and Matthias Weidemüller

  • Physikalisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 12, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

  • *amthor@physi.uni-heidelberg.de
  • Permanent address: Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Straße 3, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
  • weidemueller@physi.uni-heidelberg.de

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Vol. 104, Iss. 1 — 8 January 2010

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