2017/05/10 by Ivan Mirgorodskiy, Florian Christaller, Christoph Braun +3 · 22 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Atomic physics #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Computer science #Computer security #Electromagnetically induced transparency #Ionization #Materials science #Molecule #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Range (aeronautics) #Rydberg formula #Transparency (behavior) #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.96.011402
published in Physical Review A 96(1) (American Physical Society) · Submitted to PRA
arxiv created 2017/05/10 · openalex publication_date 2017/07/25 · arxiv updated 2017/08/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study the impact of Rydberg molecule formation on the storage and retrieval of Rydberg polaritons in an ultracold atomic medium. We observe coherent revivals appearing in the storage and retrieval efficiency of stored photons that originate from simultaneous excitation of Rydberg atoms and Rydberg molecules in the system with subsequent interference between the possible storage paths. We show that over a large range of principal quantum numbers the observed results can be described by a two-state model including only the atomic Rydberg state and the Rydberg dimer molecule state. At higher principal quantum numbers the influence of polyatomic molecules becomes relevant and the dynamics of the system undergoes a transition from coherent evolution of a few-state system to an effective dephasing into a continuum of molecular states.