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 stateRydberg state Distance (microns) Density (arb. units) V Low density High density
Experimental procedure Automatic translation stage Lens setup
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
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 Field ionization 10 micron waist for excitation pulse 58 x magnification Leads to ~2 micron resolution at MOT
What is measured: Spatially resolved ion signals Single shot 500 summed images
Saturation
Blockade dependent correlations F. ROBICHEAUX AND J. V. HERNÁNDEZ, PRA 72, (2005)
Auto-correlation Cross-correlation of a signal with itself Continuous Discrete1 = correlated0 = un-correlated-1 = anti-correlated
Auto-correlation results Radius (microns)
Outlook Our experiment nearly ready Other groups are also studying this