Probing Nonlocal Spatial Correlations in Quantum Gases with Ultra-long-range Rydberg Molecules

Abstract

We present photo-excitation of ultra-long-range Rydberg molecules as a probe of spatial correlations in quantum gases. Rydberg molecules can be created with well-defined internuclear spacing, set by the radius of the outer lobe of the Rydberg electron wavefunction $R_n$. By varying the principal quantum number $n$ of the target Rydberg state, the molecular excitation rate can be used to map the pair-correlation function of the trapped gas $g^{(2)}(R_n)$. We demonstrate this with ultracold Sr gases and probe pair-separation length scales ranging from $R_n=1400-3200$ $a_0$, which are on the order of the thermal de Broglie wavelength for temperatures around 1 $\mu$K. We observe bunching for a single-component Bose gas of ${}^{84}$Sr and anti-bunching due to Pauli exclusion at short distances for a polarized Fermi gas of ${}^{87}$Sr, revealing the effects of quantum statistics.

arXiv comment6 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (19)

• Realizing Su-Schrieffer-Heeger topological edge states in Rydberg-atom synthetic dimensions
• Ultralong-range Rydberg molecules
• Rydberg impurity in a Fermi gas: Quantum statistics and rotational blockade
• Heteronuclear long-range Rydberg molecules
• Dressed ion-pair states of an ultralong-range Rydberg molecule
• Heteronuclear Rydberg molecules
• Electric field-induced wave-packet dynamics and geometrical rearrangement of trilobite Rydberg molecules
• Experimental realization of a fermionic spin-momentum lattice
• Measuring nonlocal three-body spatial correlations with Rydberg trimers in ultracold quantum gases
• Green's function treatment of Rydberg molecules with spins
• Non-adiabatic interaction effects in the spectra of ultralong-range Rydberg molecules
• Loss rates for high-$n$, $49\lesssim n\lesssim 150$, 5sns(${}^3$S${}_1$) Rydberg atoms excited in an ${}^{84}$Sr Bose-Einstein condensate
• Creation of vibrationally-excited ultralong-range Rydberg molecules in polarized and unpolarized cold gases of ${}^{87}$Sr
• Charged ultralong-range Rydberg trimers
• The role of Coulomb anti-blockade in the photoassociation of long-range Rydberg molecules
• Probing polaron clouds by Rydberg atom spectroscopy
• Tunable pairing with local spin-dependent Rydberg molecule potentials in an atomic Fermi superfluid
• Internal diffraction dynamics of trilobite molecules
• Photoassociative Spectroscopy of ${}^{87}$Sr