Ionization in a frozen Rydberg gas with attractive or repulsive potentials

Matthieu Viteau (1) , Amodsen Chotia (1) , Daniel Comparat (1) , Duncan Tate (1, 2) , Thomas F. Gallagher (1, 3) , Pierre Pillet (1)

1 LAC - Laboratoire Aimé Cotton
2 Colby College
3 Department of Physics, University of Virginia

We report clear evidence of the role of dipole-dipole interaction in Penning ionization of Rydberg atoms, leading to the formation of an ultracold plasma. Penning ionization of np Rydberg Cesium atoms is prevented for states with in n < 42, which correspond to a repulsive potential, but it does not occur for n larger than 42, corresponding to an attractive potential. Blackbody radiation is mostly responsible for the background and initial ionization, although ion-Rydberg collisions and population transfer due to limited superradiance may have to be considered.

Mots clés: Rydberg; Penning Ionization; ultracold plasma; dipole-dipole interaction; blackbody

Domaines: Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]

Matthieu Viteau, Amodsen Chotia, Daniel Comparat, Duncan Tate, Thomas F. Gallagher, et al.. Ionization in a frozen Rydberg gas with attractive or repulsive potentials. 2008, pp.4. ⟨hal-00289203⟩