1. Approaches to Rydberg spatial distribution measurement Graham Lochead 24/01/11

2. Outline Rydberg spatial distribution Our approach and progress Raithel’s approach

3. Rydberg spatial distribution Ground stateRydberg state Distance (microns) Density (arb. units) V Low density High density

4. Experimental procedure Automatic translation stage Lens setup

5. Autoionization Allows independent Rydberg excitation and investigation Ion detection is very sensitive 5s 2 5s5p5sns(d)5pns(d)5s 1/2 + Graham Lochead 25/10/10

6. 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 

7. Raithel’s approach Laser pulses Field ionization 10 micron waist for excitation pulse 58 x magnification Leads to ~2 micron resolution at MOT http://cold-atoms.physics.lsa.umich.edu/projects/tip/

8. What is measured: Spatially resolved ion signals Single shot 500 summed images

9. Saturation

10. Blockade dependent correlations F. ROBICHEAUX AND J. V. HERNÁNDEZ, PRA 72, 063403 (2005)

11. Auto-correlation Cross-correlation of a signal with itself Continuous Discrete1 = correlated0 = un-correlated-1 = anti-correlated

12. Auto-correlation results Radius (microns)

13. Outlook Our experiment nearly ready Other groups are also studying this