We demonstrate Rabi flopping of small numbers of $rm{^{87}Rb}$ atoms between ground and Rydberg states with $nle 43$. Coherent population oscillations are observed for single atom flopping, while the presence of two or more atoms decoheres the oscillations. We show that these observations are consistent with van der Waals interactions of Rydberg atoms.
Resonant electric dipole-dipole interactions between cold Rydberg atoms were observed using microwave spectroscopy. Laser-cooled Rb atoms in a magneto-optical trap were optically excited to 45d Rydberg states using a pulsed laser. A microwave pulse transferred a fraction of these Rydberg atoms to the 46p state. A second microwave pulse then drove atoms in the 45d state to the 46d state, and was used as a probe of interatomic interactions. The spectral width of this two-photon probe transition was found to depend on the presence of the 46p atoms, and is due to the resonant electric dipole-dipole interaction between 45d and 46p Rydberg atoms.
We have observed resonant energy transfer between cold Rydberg atoms in spatially separated cylinders. Resonant dipole-dipole coupling excites the 49s atoms in one cylinder to the 49p state while the 41d atoms in the second cylinder are transferred down to the 42p state. We have measured the production of the 49p state as a function of separation of the cylinders (0 - 80 um) and the interaction time (0 - 25 us). In addition we measured the width of the electric field resonances. A full many-body quantum calculation reproduces the main features of the experiments.
We report on the local control of the transition frequency of a spin-$1/2$ encoded in two Rydberg levels of an individual atom by applying a state-selective light shift using an addressing beam. With this tool, we first study the spectrum of an elementary system of two spins, tuning it from a non-resonant to a resonant regime, where bright (superradiant) and dark (subradiant) states emerge. We observe the collective enhancement of the microwave coupling to the bright state. We then show that after preparing an initial single spin excitation and letting it hop due to the spin-exchange interaction, we can freeze the dynamics at will with the addressing laser, while preserving the coherence of the system. In the context of quantum simulation, this scheme opens exciting prospects for engineering inhomogeneous XY spin Hamiltonians or preparing spin-imbalanced initial states.
In this work we present results of the dipole-dipole interactions between two neutrons, a neutron and a conducting wall, and a neutron between two walls. As input, we use dynamical electromagnetic dipole polarizabilities fitted to chiral EFT results up to the pion production threshold and at the onset of the Delta resonance. Our work can be relevant to the physics of confined ultracold neutrons inside bottles.
We show that nuclear motion of Rydberg atoms can be induced by resonant dipole-dipole interactions that trigger the energy transfer between two energetically close Rydberg states. How and if the atoms move depends on their initial arrangement as well as on the initial electronic excitation. Using a mixed quantum/classical propagation scheme we obtain the trajectories and kinetic energies of atoms, initially arranged in a regular chain and prepared in excitonic eigenstates. The influence of off-diagonal disorder on the motion of the atoms is examined and it is shown that irregularity in the arrangement of the atoms can lead to an acceleration of the nuclear dynamics.