Probing the interaction between Rydberg-dressed atoms through interference

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Rydberg-dressed atoms in an optical lattice exhibit complex collapse and revival dynamics, with interference patterns revealing the nature of their switchable long-range interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a method to probe and characterize effective interactions in Rydberg-dressed Bose-Einstein condensates via interference patterns.

Findings

Interference patterns depend on laser pulse parameters.

Collapse and revival dynamics are observed after dressing.

Effective soft-core interactions are characterized.

Abstract

We study the dynamics of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice in which the electronic groundstate of each atom is weakly coupled to a highly excited Rydberg state by a far off-resonant laser. This dressing induces a switchable effective soft-core interaction between groundstate atoms which, in the lattice, gives rise to on-site as well as long-range interaction terms. Upon switching on the dressing laser the Bose-Einstein condensate undergoes a nontrivial collapse and revival dynamics which can be observed in the interference pattern that is created after a release of the atoms from the optical lattice. This interference signal strongly depends on the strength and the duration of the dressing laser pulse and can be used to probe and characterize the effective interaction between Rydberg-dressed atoms.