Hannover 2013 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 20: Ultracold plasmas and Rydberg atoms

Q 20.4: Talk

Monday, March 18, 2013, 17:30–17:45, E 415

Optical imaging of Rydberg atoms in dense atomic gases — •Georg Günter, Hanna Schempp, Martin Robert-de Saint-Vincent, Stephan Helmrich, Vladislav Gavryusev, Christoph Hofmann, Shannon Whitlock, and Matthias Weidemüller — Physikalisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 12, 69120 Heidelberg

We experimentally investigate a new all-optical method to image Rydberg atoms embedded in dense atomic gases [1]. The method exploits strong interactions between the Rydberg atoms and highly polarizable excited states of the surrounding gas. The resulting level-shifts of the excited states are mapped via electromagnetically induced transparency on a strong optical transition, leading to absorption for many atoms surrounding each Rydberg impurity in an otherwise transparent gas. Using this novel technique we show single shot images of small numbers of Rydberg atoms. Furthermore we characterize the time resolution and state-selectivity of the method. This makes it a promising tool for dynamical studies of strongly correlated many-body states as well as transport phenomena in Rydberg aggregates.

G. Günter et al Phys.Rev.Lett. 108, 013002 (2012)