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arXiv · 1809.00993

Observation of Rydberg Blockade Induced by a Single Ion

Felix Engel·Thomas Dieterle·Thomas Schmid·Christian Tomschitz·Christian Veit·Nicolas Zuber·Robert Löw·Tilman Pfau·Florian Meinert
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Abstract

We study the long-range interaction of a single ion with a highly excited ultracold Rydberg atom and report on the direct observation of ion-induced Rydberg excitation blockade mediated over tens of micrometer distances. Our hybrid ion-atom system is directly produced from an ultracold atomic ensemble via near-threshold photo-ionization of a single Rydberg excitation, employing a two-photon scheme which is specifically suited for generating a very low-energy ion. The ion's motion is precisely controlled by small electric fields, which allows us to analyze the blockade mechanism for a range of principal quantum numbers. Finally, we explore the capability of the ion as a high-sensitivity single-atom-based electric field sensor. The observed ion - Rydberg-atom interaction is of current interest for entanglement generation or studies of ultracold chemistry in hybrid ion-atom systems.

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Felix Engel, Thomas Dieterle, Thomas Schmid, Christian Tomschitz, Christian Veit, Nicolas Zuber, Robert Löw, Tilman Pfau, Florian Meinert. 2018-09-04. Observation of Rydberg Blockade Induced by a Single Ion. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.121.193401

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