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Anomalous broadening in driven dissipative Rydberg systems
Published
Author(s)
Elizabeth A. Goldschmidt, Thomas L. Boulier, Roger C. Brown, Silvio B. Koller, Jeremy T. Young, Alexey V. Gorshkov, S L. Rolston, James V. Porto
Abstract
We observe interaction-induced broadening of the two-photon 5s-18s transition in 87Rb atoms trapped in a 3D optical lattice. The measured linewidth increases by nearly two orders of magnitude with increasing atomic density and excitation strength, with corresponding suppression of resonant scattering and enhancement of off-resonant scattering. We attribute the increased linewidth to resonant dipole-dipole interactions of 18s atoms with spontaneously created populations of nearby $np$ states. Over a range of initial atomic densities and excitation strengths, the transition width is described by a single function of the steady- state density of Rydberg atoms, and the observed resonant excitation rate corresponds to that of a two-level system with the measured, rather than natural, linewidth. The broadening mechanism described here is likely to have negative implications for many proposals with coherently interacting Rydberg atoms.
Goldschmidt, E.
, Boulier, T.
, Brown, R.
, Koller, S.
, Young, J.
, Gorshkov, A.
, Rolston, S.
and Porto, J.
(2016),
Anomalous broadening in driven dissipative Rydberg systems, Physical Review Letters
(Accessed October 2, 2025)