Condensate losses and oscillations induced by Rydberg atoms

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Rydberg atoms affect Bose-Einstein condensates, revealing atom losses and induced oscillations, with numerical results aligning with experimental observations.

Contribution

It provides a numerical analysis of Rydberg atom impacts on condensates, including atom losses and oscillation effects, using the classical fields approximation.

Findings

Rydberg atoms cause measurable atom losses in condensates.

Rydberg atoms induce oscillations in the condensate.

Numerical results agree with experimental data.

Abstract

We numerically analyze the impact of a single Rydberg electron onto a Bose-Einstein condensate. Both $S-$ and $D-$ Rydberg states are studied. The radial size of $S-$ and $D-$states are comparable, hence the only difference is due to the angular dependence of the wavefunctions. We find the atom losses in the condensate after the excitation of a sequence of Rydberg atoms. Additionally, we investigate the mechanical effect in which the Rydberg atoms force the condensate to oscillate. Our numerical analysis is based on the classical fields approximation. Finally, we compare numerical results to experimental data.