Ultralarge Rydberg dimers in optical lattices
We investigate the dynamics of Rydberg electrons excited from the ground state of ultracold atoms trapped in an optical lattice. We first consider a lattice comprising an array of double-well potentials, where each double well is occupied by two ultracold atoms. We demonstrate the existence of molec...
| Hlavní autoři: | , , |
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| Médium: | Journal article |
| Jazyk: | English |
| Vydáno: |
2008
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| Shrnutí: | We investigate the dynamics of Rydberg electrons excited from the ground state of ultracold atoms trapped in an optical lattice. We first consider a lattice comprising an array of double-well potentials, where each double well is occupied by two ultracold atoms. We demonstrate the existence of molecular states with equilibrium distances of the order of experimentally attainable interwell spacings and binding energies of the order of 103 GHz. We also consider the situation whereby ground-state atoms trapped in an optical lattice are collectively excited to Rydberg levels, such that the charge-density distributions of neighboring atoms overlap. We compute the hopping rate and interaction matrix elements between highly excited electrons separated by distances comparable to typical lattice spacings. Such systems have tunable interaction parameters and a temperature ∼ 104 times smaller than the Fermi temperature, making them potentially attractive for the study and simulation of strongly correlated electronic systems. © 2008 The American Physical Society. |
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