Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 25: Ultra-cold plasmas and Rydberg systems I

A 25.4: Talk

Thursday, March 17, 2011, 17:30–17:45, BAR 106

Creating strongly coupled plasmas via the dipole blockade in ultracold Rydberg gases — •Georg Bannasch and Thomas Pohl — Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Nöthnitzer Str. 38, 01187 Dresden

A major challenge in the field of ultracold plasmas is the creation of strongly coupled charges. Since such plasma is typically created by photoionization of spatially uncorrelated ultracold atoms, the subsequent plasma relaxation leads to tremendous heating and, thus, precludes the development of strong correlations.

Here we propose a double-pulse ionization scheme for plasma creation that exploits the dipole blockade between highly excited Rydberg atoms. It is shown that this "pump-probe" type sequence produces strongly correlated ions, which thereby limits subsequent disorder-induced heating. We thoroughly study the involved steps to discuss the feasibility of our approach and give achievable coupling under realistic conditions.