RUI: Many-Body Effects in a Frozen Rydberg Gas

Colby College, Waterville ME

Investigators

Abstract

This RUI award provides support for a research program on collisions of cold, dense samples of Rydberg atoms. The Rydberg atoms in this environment are strongly coupled by the dipole interaction. Two novel features define this environment. First, the atoms move a distance that is significantly less than their mean separation during the time the collision lasts. Second, the mean atomic separation is less than the impact parameter, indicating that many-body effects are important. The interactions of a dense sample of cold Rydberg atoms are therefore less like those in a "normal" gas, and more like those characteristic of a diffuse liquid or disordered solid. The term "frozen gas" has been used to describe this environment. Two major areas of research will be pursued: 1) Exciton processes in a frozen gas, in which various predictions of an exciton diffusion model for migration of population away from close atoms will be investigated and 2) Preliminary investigations of multiphoton radiatively assisted collisions in the many-body regime. By virtue of being at an undergraduate institution with a significant number of physics majors, this research program offers educational preparation for students wishing to continue on to graduate school or enter the advanced high-tech workforce.