Berlin 2005 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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Q: Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 65: Fallen & Kühlung II

Q 65.1: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 9. März 2005, 11:00–11:15, HU 1070

Rydberg spectroscopy in a gas of ultracold Rubidium atoms — •Rolf Heidemann, Axel Grabowski, Jörg Bauer, Jürgen Stuhler, and Tilman Pfau — 5. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70550 Stuttgart

The starting point of our Rydberg spectroscopy measurements is a cloud of magneto-optically trapped Rubidium atoms. Using two narrow band home-built cw laser systems - a diode laser at 780 nm and a Master-Slave diode laser system that is frequency-doubled to 480 nm - we perform two-photon excitation of ground state Rb atoms to high-lying Rydberg states. The Rydberg atoms are detected by field ionization and ion detection using a multi channel plate (MCP). A voltage difference between a gold plate and a metal grid in front of the MCP allows us to apply an electric field over the MOT-region. Measuring the number of Rydberg atoms as a function of the electric field for different frequencies of the 480 nm laser, we were able to observe the Stark splitting of Rydberg states. We also performed time-resolved measurements that allow us to extract both, lifetimes of the Rydberg states and excitation rates. The project is devoted to the investigation of the electric dipole-dipole interaction. Since Rydberg atoms in an electric field can have a very large electric dipole moment, we expect to observe the so-called ”dipole blockade”, a mechanism that can be applied to realize neutral atom quantum phase gates [1].

[1] D. Jaksch et al.,”Fast Quantum Gates for Neutral Atoms”, PRL 85, 2208 (2000).