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, B.

doi:10.1103/physreva.95.013839

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, B.

Authors

D.P. Sadler

Dr Liz Bridge elizabeth.bridge@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor

D. Boddy

A.D. Bounds

N.C. Keegan

G. Lochead

Professor Matthew Jones m.p.a.jones@durham.ac.uk
Professor

B. Olmos

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 an in situ probe of the spectral, statistical, temporal, and spatial properties of the trapped rescattered 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 coexist 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., …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 16, 2016
Online Publication Date	Jan 24, 2017
Publication Date	Jan 24, 2017
Deposit Date	Feb 14, 2017
Publicly Available Date	Feb 16, 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

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