Cold-Rydberg-gas dynamics
- 7 June 2004
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review A
- Vol. 69 (6), 063405
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.69.063405
Abstract
Using state-selective field ionization, the state distributions of Rydberg atoms in cold Rydberg gases are measured for various initially excited Rydberg levels, populations, and evolution times. We provide direct experimental evidence for -changing collisions that we previously observed indirectly [S. K. Dutta, D. Feldbaum, A. Walz-Flannigan, J. R. Guest, and G. Raithel, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3993 (2001)]. We also observe -mixing and find that its effects are largely in agreement with recent theoretical work on -changing collisions between electrons and Rydberg atoms, thus enabling an estimation of the electron temperature. Unexpectedly large populations of atoms are found in states with principal quantum numbers much lower than that of the initially excited atoms. We explain this observation by collisions between high- Rydberg atoms, which are highly polar and can collide due to static electric-dipole forces between them.
Keywords
This publication has 23 references indexed in Scilit:
- Simulated expansion of an ultra-cold, neutral plasmaPhysics of Plasmas, 2003
- Coulomb Expansion of Laser-Excited Ion PlasmasPhysical Review Letters, 2002
- Numerical Simulation of Ultracold Plasmas: How Rapid Intrinsic Heating Limits the Development of CorrelationPhysical Review Letters, 2002
- Simulation of the Expansion of an Ultracold Neutral PlasmaPhysical Review Letters, 2002
- Evolution of Ultracold Neutral PlasmasPhysical Review Letters, 2002
- High-Angular-Momentum States in Cold Rydberg GasesPhysical Review Letters, 2001
- Formation of Rydberg Atoms in an Expanding Ultracold Neutral PlasmaPhysical Review Letters, 2001
- Spontaneous Evolution of Rydberg Atoms into an Ultracold PlasmaPhysical Review Letters, 2000
- Creation of an Ultracold Neutral PlasmaPhysical Review Letters, 1999
- Rydberg AtomsPublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1994