Strongly confined atomic localization by Rydberg coherent population trapping

TL;DR

This paper explores how interacting Rydberg atoms in a coherent population trapping setup can achieve highly localized atomic states, with different regimes affecting the speed and resolution of localization.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for atomic localization using Rydberg CPT with standing-wave coupling, analyzing antiblockade regimes for enhanced spatial confinement.

Findings

Partial antiblockade enables faster superlocalization.

Higher Rydberg levels achieve higher resolution localization.

Stable uppermost Rydberg states are crucial for effective superlocalization.

Abstract

In this letter we investigate the possibility to attain strongly confined atomic localization using interacting Rydberg atoms in a Coherent Population Trapping (CPT) ladder configuration, where a standing-wave (SW) is used as a coupling field in the second leg of the ladder. Depending on the degree of compensation of the Rydberg level energy shift induced by the van der Waals (vdW) interaction, by the coupling field detuning, we distinguish between two antiblockade regimes, i.e. a partial antiblockade (PA) and a full antiblockade (FA). While a periodic pattern of tightly localized regions can be achieved for both regimes, the PA allows much faster converge of spatial confinement yielding a high resolution Rydberg state-selective superlocalization regime for higher-lying Rydberg levels. In comparison, for lower-lying Rydberg levels the PA leads to an anomalous change of spectra linewidth, confirming the importance of using a stable uppermost state to achieve a superlocalization regime.