Approaches to Rydberg spatial distribution measurement

Graham Lochead 24/01/11

Outline

• Rydberg spatial distribution

• Our approach and progress

• Raithel’s approach

Rydberg spatial distribution

Ground state Rydberg state

Distance (microns)

V

Lowdensity

Highdensity

Experimental procedure

Automatictranslation stage

Lens setup

Autoionization

• Allows independent Rydberg excitation and investigation

• Ion detection is very sensitive

5s2 5s5p 5sns(d) 5pns(d) 5s1/2+

Graham Lochead 25/10/10

Progress towards experiment

Translation stage testing

Lens design and testing

Incorporation with main LabVIEW program

Laser locking

Graham Lochead 25/10/10

Rest of the optical layout

Raithel’s approach

Laser pulses

Fieldionization

10 micron waist forexcitation pulse

58 x magnification Leads to ~2 micronresolution at MOT

http://cold-atoms.physics.lsa.umich.edu/projects/tip/

What is measured: Spatially resolved ion signals

Single shot

500 summedimages

Saturation

Blockade dependent correlations

F. ROBICHEAUX AND J. V. HERNÁNDEZ, PRA 72, 063403 (2005)

Auto-correlation

Cross-correlation of a signal with itself

Continuous

Discrete1 = correlated 0 = un-correlated -1 = anti-correlated

Auto-correlation results

Radius (microns)

Radius (microns)

Outlook

• Our experiment nearly ready

• Other groups are also studying this