Modeling many-particle mechanical effects of an interacting Rydberg gas

TL;DR

This paper models the many-particle mechanical effects in ultracold Rydberg gases, considering both attractive and repulsive interactions, and accounts for black body radiation effects, aligning with experimental ionization observations.

Contribution

It extends previous models to include repulsive interactions and black body radiation effects in Rydberg gases, providing a comprehensive simulation framework.

Findings

Ionization rate increases with blue-detuned excitation

Model agrees with experimental ionization data

Repulsive and attractive interactions significantly influence dynamics

Abstract

In a recent work [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 023004 (2007)] we have investigated the influence of attractive van der Waals interaction on the pair distribution and Penning ionization dynamics of ultracold Rydberg gases. Here we extend this description to atoms initially prepared in Rydberg states exhibiting repulsive interaction. We present calculations based on a Monte Carlo algorithm to simulate the dynamics of many atoms under the influence of both repulsive and attractive longrange interatomic forces. Redistribution to nearby states induced by black body radiation is taken into account, changing the effective interaction potentials. The model agrees with experimental observations, where the ionization rate is found to increase when the excitation laser is blue-detuned from the atomic resonance.