Long range interactions in a frozen Rydberg gas
Kilian Singer
Kilian Singer(1), Markus Reetz-Lamour(1), Thomas Amthor(1),
Luis G. Marcassa(2) and Matthias Weidemüller(1)
(1)
Physikalischs Institut der Universität Freiburg, Germany,
(2) Institudo de Fisica de Sao Carlos, Brazil
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We report on the observation of ultra long-range
interactions in a gas of cold Rubidium Rydberg atoms,
manifested by spectral broadening of the resonance lines
and suppression of excitation with increasing density.
Systematic studies are performed by varying the launch
state density, the intensity of the Rydberg excitation
laser and the excitation time. The density-dependent
suppression of excitation can be interpreted as the onset
of an interaction-induced local blockade. To elucidate the
observed line broadening we have numerically calculated the
long range interaction potentials for Rydberg states of all
alkali atoms correlated to the ns-ns, np-np and nd-nd
asymptotes.
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