De-excitation spectroscopy of strongly interacting Rydberg gases

TL;DR

This paper investigates how strong interactions among Rydberg atoms influence their de-excitation behavior, providing experimental and simulation insights into their spectral and spatial dynamics in cold atomic gases.

Contribution

It offers the first detailed experimental and numerical analysis of de-excitation spectra in strongly interacting Rydberg gases, highlighting the role of interactions and geometry.

Findings

De-excitation spectra reveal interaction effects and spatial arrangements.

Spectral features depend on off-resonant excitation conditions.

Results have implications for detection and dissipation control in quantum systems.

Abstract

We present experimental results on the controlled de-excitation of Rydberg states in a cold gas of Rb atoms. The effect of the van der Waals interactions between the Rydberg atoms is clearly seen in the de-excitation spectrum and dynamics. Our observations are confirmed by numerical simulations. In particular, for off-resonant (facilitated) excitation we find that the de-excitation spectrum reflects the spatial arrangement of the atoms in the quasi one-dimensional geometry of our experiment. We discuss future applications of this technique and implications for detection and controlled dissipation schemes.