Strongly correlated growth of Rydberg aggregates in a vapor cell
The observation of strongly interacting many-body phenomena in atomic gases typically requires ultracold samples. Here we show that the strong interaction potentials between Rydberg atoms enable the observation of many-body effects in an atomic vapor, even at room temperature. We excite Rydberg atom...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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American Physical Society
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34871/ |
| _version_ | 1848794950697746432 |
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| author | Urvoy, A. Ripka, F. Lesanovsky, Igor Booth, D. Shaffer, J.P. Pfau, T. Löw, R. |
| author_facet | Urvoy, A. Ripka, F. Lesanovsky, Igor Booth, D. Shaffer, J.P. Pfau, T. Löw, R. |
| author_sort | Urvoy, A. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The observation of strongly interacting many-body phenomena in atomic gases typically requires ultracold samples. Here we show that the strong interaction potentials between Rydberg atoms enable the observation of many-body effects in an atomic vapor, even at room temperature. We excite Rydberg atoms in cesium vapor and observe in real-time an out-of-equilibrium excitation dynamics that is consistent with an aggregation mechanism. The experimental observations show qualitative and quantitative agreement with a microscopic theoretical model. Numerical simulations reveal that the strongly correlated growth of the emerging aggregates is reminiscent of soft-matter type systems. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:24:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-34871 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:24:20Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-348712020-05-04T17:08:25Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34871/ Strongly correlated growth of Rydberg aggregates in a vapor cell Urvoy, A. Ripka, F. Lesanovsky, Igor Booth, D. Shaffer, J.P. Pfau, T. Löw, R. The observation of strongly interacting many-body phenomena in atomic gases typically requires ultracold samples. Here we show that the strong interaction potentials between Rydberg atoms enable the observation of many-body effects in an atomic vapor, even at room temperature. We excite Rydberg atoms in cesium vapor and observe in real-time an out-of-equilibrium excitation dynamics that is consistent with an aggregation mechanism. The experimental observations show qualitative and quantitative agreement with a microscopic theoretical model. Numerical simulations reveal that the strongly correlated growth of the emerging aggregates is reminiscent of soft-matter type systems. American Physical Society 2015-05-19 Article PeerReviewed Urvoy, A., Ripka, F., Lesanovsky, Igor, Booth, D., Shaffer, J.P., Pfau, T. and Löw, R. (2015) Strongly correlated growth of Rydberg aggregates in a vapor cell. Physical Review Letters, 114 . 203002/1-203002/9. ISSN 1079-7114 http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.203002 doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.203002 doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.203002 |
| spellingShingle | Urvoy, A. Ripka, F. Lesanovsky, Igor Booth, D. Shaffer, J.P. Pfau, T. Löw, R. Strongly correlated growth of Rydberg aggregates in a vapor cell |
| title | Strongly correlated growth of Rydberg aggregates in a vapor cell |
| title_full | Strongly correlated growth of Rydberg aggregates in a vapor cell |
| title_fullStr | Strongly correlated growth of Rydberg aggregates in a vapor cell |
| title_full_unstemmed | Strongly correlated growth of Rydberg aggregates in a vapor cell |
| title_short | Strongly correlated growth of Rydberg aggregates in a vapor cell |
| title_sort | strongly correlated growth of rydberg aggregates in a vapor cell |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34871/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34871/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34871/ |