Observation of effects of inter-atomic interaction on Autler-Townes splitting in cold Rydberg atoms

Abstract

We demonstrate the effect of inter-atomic interaction in highly excited Rydberg atoms via Autler- Townes splitting in cold atoms. We measure the Autler-Townes (AT) splitting of the 5S1/2, F=2 to 5P3/2, F'=3 transition of 87Rb atoms arising due to the strong coupling of the transition via the cooling beams used for the magneto-optical trap (MOT). The AT splitting is probed using a weakly coupled transition from 5P3/2, F'=3 state to highly excited Rydberg states for a wide range of principal quantum numbers (n = 35 - 117). We observe the AT splitting via trap-loss spectroscopy in the MOT by scanning the probe frequency. We observe a drastic increase in the broadening of the AT splitting signal as a result of interaction-induced dephasing effect in cold Rydberg atoms for highly excited Rydberg states with principal quantum number n > 100. We explain our observations using theoretical modelling and numerical simulations based on the Lindblad Master equation. We find a good agreement of the results of the numerical simulation with the experimental measurements.

References in corpus (13)

• Many-Body Physics with Individually-Controlled Rydberg Atoms
• Quantum computing with neutral atoms
• Quantum simulation and computing with Rydberg-interacting qubits
• Sub-Wavelength Imaging and Field Mapping via EIT and Autler-Townes Splitting In Rydberg Atoms
• Simultaneous Use of Cs and Rb Rydberg Atoms for Independent RF Electric Field Measurements via Electromagnetically Induced Transparency
• Autler-Townes spectroscopy of the $5S_{1/2}-5P_{3/2}-44D$ cascade of cold ${}^{85}$Rb atoms
• Rydberg superatoms: An artificial quantum system for quantum information processing and quantum optics
• Investigation of dephasing rates in an interacting Rydberg gas
• Optimal State Choice for Rydberg Atom Microwave Sensors
• Zeeman-resolved Autler-Townes splitting in Rydberg atoms with tunable resonances and a single transition dipole moment
• Polarization-insensitive microwave electrometry using Rydberg atoms
• Transition frequency measurement of highly excited Rydberg states of 87Rb for a wide range of principal quantum numbers
• Doppler-Enhanced Quantum Magnetometry with thermal Rydberg atoms