Interaction enhanced imaging of individual Rydberg atoms in dense gases

• Verfasst von: Günter, Georg [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Robert-de-Saint-Vincent, Martin [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Schempp, Hanna [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Hofmann, Christoph S. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Whitlock, Shannon [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Weidemüller, Matthias [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Interaction enhanced imaging of individual Rydberg atoms in dense gases
• Verf.angabe: G. Günter, M. Robert-de-Saint-Vincent, H. Schempp, C. S. Hofmann, S. Whitlock, M. Weidemüller
• E-Jahr: 2012
• Jahr: 5 January 2012
• Umfang: 5 S.
• Fussnoten: Published 5 January 2012 ; Gesehen am 30.07.2018
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Physical review letters
• Ort Quelle: College Park, Md. : APS, 1958
• Jahr Quelle: 2012
• Band/Heft Quelle: 108(2002,1) Artikel-Nummer 013002, 5 Seiten
• ISSN Quelle: 1079-7114
• DOI: doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.013002
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• K10plus-PPN: 1578071321

Abstract

We propose a new all-optical method to image individual Rydberg atoms embedded within dense gases of ground state atoms. The scheme exploits interaction-induced shifts on highly polarizable excited states of probe atoms, which can be spatially resolved via an electromagnetically induced transparency resonance. Using a realistic model, we show that it is possible to image individual Rydberg atoms with enhanced sensitivity and high resolution despite photon-shot noise and atomic density fluctuations. This new imaging scheme could be extended to other impurities such as ions, and is ideally suited to equilibrium and dynamical studies of complex many-body phenomena involving strongly interacting particles. As an example we study blockade effects and correlations in the distribution of Rydberg atoms optically excited from a dense gas.