Electric-field induced dipole blockade with Rydberg atoms

Abstract

High resolution laser Stark excitation of np (60 < n < 85) Rydberg states of ultra-cold cesium atoms shows an efficient blockade of the excitation attributed to long-range dipole-dipole interaction. The dipole blockade effect is observed as a quenching of the Rydberg excitation depending on the value of the dipole moment induced by the external electric field. Effects of eventual ions which could match the dipole blockade effect are discussed in detail but are ruled out for our experimental conditions. Analytic and Monte-Carlo simulations of the excitation of an ensemble of interacting Rydberg atoms agree with the experiments indicates a major role of the nearest neighboring Rydberg atom.

4 pages

Cited by in corpus (8)

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• Long-range potentials and $(n-1)d+ns$ molecular resonances in an ultracold rydberg gas
• Investigation of cold Rb Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap
• Magnetic trapping of ultracold Rydberg atoms in low angular momentum states
• Exploiting the composite character of Rydberg atoms for cold atom trapping