Continuous coupling of ultracold atoms to an ionic plasma via Rydberg excitation

摘要

We characterize the two-photon excitation of an ultracold gas of rubidium atoms to Rydberg states analyzingnthe induced atomic losses from an optical dipole trap. Extending the duration of the Rydberg excitation tonseveral milliseconds, the ground-state atoms are continuously coupled to the formed positively charged plasma.nIn this regime we measure the n dependence of the plasma-induced blockade effect and we characterize theninteraction of the excited states and the ground state with the plasma. We also investigate the influence of thenquasielectrostatic trapping potential on the system, confirming the validity of the ponderomotive model for statesnwith 20 u0002 n u0002 120.