Electric-Field Induced Dipole Blockade with Rydberg Atoms

Journal Article · Fri Aug 17 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.99.073002· OSTI ID:21028145

Vogt, Thibault; Viteau, Matthieu; Chotia, Amodsen; Jianming, Zhao; Comparat, Daniel; Pillet, Pierre ^[1]

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1. Laboratoire Aime Cotton, CNRS, Universite Paris-Sud, Batiment 505, Campus d'Orsay, 91405 Orsay (France)

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.

• OSTI ID: 21028145
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 99, Issue 7; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.073002; (c) 2007 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
CESIUM
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DIPOLE MOMENTS
DIPOLES
ELECTRIC FIELDS
EXCITATION
LASERS
MONTE CARLO METHOD
PHOTON-ATOM COLLISIONS
RYDBERG STATES
STARK EFFECT