[Triumf-seminars] TRIUMF Special Seminar today at 12:00

[postmaster@admin.triumf.ca]

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Date/Time: Fri 2005-09-23 at 12:00

Location:  Auditorium          

Speaker:   Kourosh Afrousheh (Physics & Inst. of Quantum Computing, Waterloo)

Title:     Resonant electric dipole-dipole interaction between cold Rydberg atoms

Abstract: Having large transition dipole moments, highly excited Rydberg atoms may strongly interact through electric dipole-dipole coupling. Therefore, excitation to Rydberg states allows one to turn on strong interactions between atoms which would otherwise be negligible. Thus, temporary excitation to Rydberg states has been proposed for implementing elements of quantum information processing using cold neutral atoms [1]. For example, it has been proposed that a single excited Rydberg atom in a cloud may block further resonant excitation due to the dipole-dipole interaction, a process known as "dipole blockade" [2]. To investigate this idea we have experimentally studied the dipole-dipole interactions between translationally cold Rydberg atoms. Rubidium atoms from a magneto-optical trap were excited to Rydberg states using a pulse of a 480nm laser, and microwave sources were used to drive transitions between these states. The linewidths of microwave-driven transitions can be used as a direct, sensitive probe of interactions between cold Rydberg atoms [3]. Using the same technique we have demonstrated that resonant electric dipole-dipole interactions between cold Rydberg atoms are partially suppressed by DC magnetic fields.

References:

[1] D. Jaksch et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2208 (2000).
[2] M. D. Lukin et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 037901 (2001).
[3] K. Afrousheh et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 233001 (2004).      




Please bring your own lunch. Note the unusual time.

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