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Probing nonlocal spatial correlations in quantum gases with ultra-long-range Rydberg molecules

J. D. Whalen, S. K. Kanungo, R. Ding, M. Wagner, R. Schmidt, H. R. Sadeghpour, S. Yoshida, J. Burgdörfer, F. B. Dunning, and T. C. Killian
Phys. Rev. A 100, 011402(R) – Published 22 July 2019

Abstract

We present photoexcitation of ultra-long-range Rydberg molecules as a probe of spatial correlations in bosonic and fermionic quantum gases. Rydberg molecules can be created with well-defined internuclear spacing, set by the radius of the outer lobe of the Rydberg electron wave function Rn. By varying the principal quantum number n of the target Rydberg state, the molecular excitation rate can be used to map the pair-correlation function of the trapped gas g(2)(Rn). We demonstrate this with ultracold Sr gases and probe pair-separation length scales in the range Rn=14003200 a0, which are on the order of the thermal de Broglie wavelength for temperatures around 1 μK. We observe bunching for a single-component Bose gas of 84Sr and antibunching due to Pauli exclusion at short distances for a polarized Fermi gas of 87Sr, revealing the effects of quantum statistics.

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  • Received 26 March 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.100.011402

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

J. D. Whalen1, S. K. Kanungo1, R. Ding1, M. Wagner2,3, R. Schmidt2,3, H. R. Sadeghpour4, S. Yoshida5, J. Burgdörfer5, F. B. Dunning1, and T. C. Killian1,*

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Center for Quantum Materials, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77251, USA
  • 2Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics, Hans-Kopfermann-Straße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
  • 3Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Schellingstraße 4, D-80799 München, Germany
  • 4ITAMP, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  • 5Institute for Theoretical Physics, Vienna University of Technology, A-1040 Vienna, Austria, European Union

  • *Corresponding author: killian@rice.edu

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Issue

Vol. 100, Iss. 1 — July 2019

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