Probing interactions of thermal Sr Rydberg atoms using simultaneous optical and ion detection

We demonstrate a method for probing interaction effects in a thermal beam of strontium atoms using simultaneous measurements of Rydberg EIT and spontaneously created ions or electrons. We present a Doppler-averaged optical Bloch equation model that reproduces the optical signals and allows us to con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of physics. B, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics Atomic, molecular, and optical physics, 2017-06, Vol.50 (11), p.115002
Main Authors: Hanley, Ryan K, Bounds, Alistair D, Huillery, Paul, Keegan, Niamh C, Faoro, Riccardo, Bridge, Elizabeth M, Weatherill, Kevin J, Jones, Matthew P A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ionization
Physics
Rydberg
thermal
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Summary:We demonstrate a method for probing interaction effects in a thermal beam of strontium atoms using simultaneous measurements of Rydberg EIT and spontaneously created ions or electrons. We present a Doppler-averaged optical Bloch equation model that reproduces the optical signals and allows us to connect the optical coherences and the populations. We use this to determine that the spontaneous ionization process in our system occurs due to collisions between Rydberg and ground state atoms in the EIT regime. We measure the cross section of this process to be 0.6 0.2 geo , where geo is the geometrical cross section of the Rydberg atom. This result adds complementary insight to a range of recent studies of interacting thermal Rydberg ensembles.
ISSN:0953-4075
1361-6455
DOI:10.1088/1361-6455/aa6e79