Radiation trapping in a dense cold Rydberg gas

Sadler, D.P.; Bridge, E.M.; Boddy, D.; Bounds, A.D.; Keegan, N.C.; Lochead, G.; Jones, M.P.A.; Olmos, Beatriz

Abstract

Cold atomic gases resonantly excited to Rydberg states can exhibit strong optical nonlinearity at the single photon level. We observe that in such samples radiation trapping leads to an additional mechanism for Rydberg excitation. Conversely we demonstrate that Rydberg excitation provides a novel in situ probe of the spectral, statistical, temporal and spatial properties of the trapped re-scattered light. We also show that absorption can lead to an excitation saturation that mimics the Rydberg blockade effect. Collective effects due to multiple scattering may co-exist with cooperative effects due to long-range interactions between the Rydberg atoms, adding a new dimension to quantum optics experiments with cold Rydberg gases.

Citation

Sadler, D., Bridge, E., Boddy, D., Bounds, A., Keegan, N., Lochead, G., Jones, M., & Olmos, B. (2017). Radiation trapping in a dense cold Rydberg gas. Physical Review A, 95(1), Article 013839. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.95.013839

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 6, 2016
• Publication Date: Jan 24, 2017
• Deposit Date: Mar 7, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 7, 2017
• Journal: Physical Review A
• Print ISSN: 2469-9926
• Electronic ISSN: 2469-9934
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 95
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 013839
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.95.013839
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/839250
• Publisher URL: http://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.95.013839
• Contract Date: Mar 7, 2017