Coherently manipulating Rydberg atoms in mesoscopic systems has proven challenging due to the unwanted population of nearby Rydberg levels by black-body radiation. Recently, there have been some efforts towards understanding these effects using states with a low principal quantum number that only have resonant dipole-dipole interactions. We perform experiments that exhibit black-body-induced dipole-dipole interactions for a state that also has a significant van der Waals interaction. Using an enhanced rate-equation model that captures some of the long-range properties of the dipolar interaction, we show that the initial degree of Rydberg excitation is dominated by the van der Waals interaction, while the observed linewidth at later times is dominated by the dipole-dipole interaction. We also point out some prospects for quantum simulation.

Rydberg states of atoms and molecules are very sensitive to electric fields. This property makes them ideal electric-field sensors but is detrimental to applications of Rydberg states in quantum optics, quantum-information processing, and quantum simulation because of inhomogeneous Stark broadening and the resulting loss of quantum coherence. We demonstrate, with the example of Rydberg states of K-39, the existence of Rydberg-Rydberg transitions with extremely small differential dc Stark shifts, which we call dc-field-magic Rydberg-Rydberg transitions. These transitions hardly exhibit any Stark broadening, even when the electric-field strength varies by as much as 10 V cm(-1) over the experimental volume. We present a systematic study of dc-field-magic Rydberg-Rydberg transitions combining experiment and calculations and classify them in three main types, which should also be encountered in the other alkali-metal atoms, in alkaline-earth-metal atoms, and even in molecules. The observed insensitivity to dc electric fields does not reduce the interactions between Rydberg atoms, even if they are dominantly electric dipole-dipole in nature. Rydberg states coupled by dc-field-magic Rydberg-Rydberg transitions, therefore, have great potential as qubits.

We have designed and realized magnetic trapping geometries for ultracold atoms based on permanent magnetic films. Magnetic chip based experiments give a high level of control over trap barriers and geometric boundaries in a compact experimental setup. These structures can be used to study quantum spin physics in a wide range of energies and length scales. By introducing defects into a triangular lattice, kagome and hexagonal lattice structures can be created. Rectangular lattices and (quasi-)one-dimensional structures such as ladders and diamond chain trapping potentials have also been created. Quantum spin models can be studied in all these geometries with Rydberg atoms, which allow for controlled interactions over several micrometers. We also present some nonperiodic geometries where the length scales of the traps are varied over a wide range. These tapered structures offer another way to transport large numbers of atoms adiabatically into subwavelength traps and back.

Experiments handling Rydberg atoms near surfaces must necessarily deal with the high sensitivity of Rydberg atoms to (stray) electric fields that typically emanate from adsorbates on the surface. We demonstrate a method to modify and reduce the stray electric field by changing the adsorbate distribution. We use one of the Rydberg excitation lasers to locally affect the adsorbed dipole distribution. By adjusting the averaged exposure time we change the strength (with the minimal value less than 0.2 V/cm at 78 mu m from the chip) and even the sign of the perpendicular field component. This technique is a useful tool for experiments handling Rydberg atoms near surfaces, including atom chips.

Using time-resolved measurements, we demonstrate coherent collective Rydberg excitation crossing over into Rydberg blockade in a dense and ultracold gas trapped at a distance of 100 mu m from a room-temperature atom chip. We perform Ramsey-type measurements to characterize the coherence. The experimental data are in good agreement with numerical results from a master equation using a mean-field approximation and with results from a super-atom-based Hamiltonian. This represents significant progress in exploring a strongly interacting driven Rydberg gas on an atom chip.

We present experimental results on the influence of magnetic fields and laser polarization on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) using Rydberg levels of 87 Rb atoms.The measurements are performed in a room temperature vapor cell with two counter-propagating laser beams at 480 nm and 780 nm in a ladder-type energy level scheme.We measure the EIT spectrum of a range of ns 1/2 Rydberg states for n = 19 -27, where the hyperfine structure can still be resolved.Our measurements span the range of magnetic fields from the low field linear Zeeman regime to the high field Paschen-Back regimes.The observed spectra are very sensitive to small changes in magnetic fields and the polarization of the laser beams.We model our observations using optical Bloch equations that take into account the full multi-level structure of the atomic states involved and the decoupling of the electronic J and nuclear I angular momenta in the Breit-Rabi regime.The numerical model yields excellent agreement with the observations.In addition to EIT related experiments, our results are relevant for experiments involving coherent excitation to Rydberg levels in the presence of magnetic fields.

We use the sensitive response to electric fields of Rydberg atoms to characterize all three vector components of the local electric field close to an atom-chip surface. We measured Stark-Zeeman maps of S and D Rydberg states using an elongated cloud of ultracold rubidium atoms (temperature T ∼ 2 . 5 μ K) trapped magnetically 100 μ m from the chip surface. The spectroscopy of S states yields a calibration for the generated local electric field at the position of the atoms. The values for different components of the field are extracted from the more complex response of D states to the combined electric and magnetic fields. From the analysis we find residual fields in the two uncompensated directions of 0 . 0 ± 0 . 2 and 1 . 98 ± 0 . 09 V / cm. This method also allows us to extract a value for the relevant field gradient along the long axis of the cloud. The manipulation of electric fields and the magnetic trapping are both done using on-chip wires, making this setup a promising candidate to observe Rydberg-mediated interactions on a chip.

Trapping a Rydberg atom close to a surface is an important step towards the realisation of many proposals for quantum information processing or hybrid quantum systems. One of the challenges in these experiments is posed by the electric field emanating from contaminations on the surface. Here we report on measurements of an electric field created by Rb-87 atoms adsorbed on a 25 nm thick layer of SiO2, covering a 90 nm layer of Au. The electric field is measured using a two-photon transition to the 23D(5/2) and 25S(1/2) states. The electric field value that we measure is higher than typical values measured above metal surfaces, but is consistent with a recent measurement above a SiO2 surface. In addition, we measure the temporal behaviour of the field and observe that we can reduce it in a single experimental cycle, using ultraviolet light or by mildly locally heating the surface with one of the excitation lasers, whereas the buildup of the field takes thousands of cycles. We explain these results by a change in the adatom distribution on the surface. These results indicate that, while the stray electric field can be reduced, achieving field-free conditions above a silica-coated gold chip remains challenging.

We have performed calculations of attosecond laser-atom interactions for laser intensities where interesting two- and three-photon effects become relevant. In particular, we examine the case of "hole burning" in the initial orbital. Hole burning is present when the laser-pulse duration is shorter than the classical radial period because the electron preferentially absorbs the photon near the nucleus. We also examine how the three-photon Raman process can lead to a time delay in the outgoing electron for the energy near one-photon absorption. For excitation out of the hydrogen 2s state, an intensity of 2.2 x 10(16) W/cm(2) leads to a 6-as delay of the outgoing electron. We argue that this delay is due to the hole burning in the initial state.

We present direct measurements of the hyperfine splitting of Rydberg states in ${}^{87}$Rb using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectroscopy in a room-temperature vapor cell. With this method, and in spite of Doppler broadening, linewidths of 3.7 MHz FWHM, i.e., significantly below the intermediate-state natural linewidth, are reached. This allows resolving hyperfine splittings for Rydberg $s$ states with $n=20,...,24$. With this method we are able to determine Rydberg state hyperfine splittings with an accuracy of approximately 100 kHz. Ultimately, our method allows accuracies of order 5 kHz to be reached. Furthermore, we present a direct measurement of hyperfine-resolved Rydberg-state Stark shifts. These results will be of great value for future experiments relying on excellent knowledge of Rydberg-state energies and polarizabilities.

We demonstrate spatially resolved, coherent excitation of Rydberg atoms on an atom chip. Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is used to investigate the properties of the Rydberg atoms near the gold-coated chip surface. We measure distance-dependent shifts (similar to 10 MHz) of the Rydberg energy levels caused by a spatially inhomogeneous electric field. The measured field strength and distance dependence is in agreement with a simple model for the electric field produced by a localized patch of Rb adsorbates deposited on the chip surface during experiments. The EIT resonances remain narrow (< 4MHz) and the observed widths are independent of atom-surface distance down to similar to 20 mu m, indicating relatively long lifetime of the Rydberg states. Our results open the way to studies of dipolar physics, collective excitations, quantum metrology, and quantum information processing involving interacting Rydberg excited atoms on atom chips.

We have observed Stuckelberg oscillations in the dipole-dipole interaction between Rydberg atoms with an externally applied radio-frequency field. The oscillating rf field brings the interaction between cold Rydberg atoms in two separated volumes into resonance. We observe multiphoton transitions when varying the amplitude of the rf field and the static electric field offset. The angular momentum states we use show a quadratic Stark shift, which leads to a fundamentally different behavior than linearly shifting states. Both cases are studied theoretically using the Floquet approach and are compared. The amplitude of the sidebands, related to the interaction strength, is given by the Bessel function in the linearly shifting case and by the generalized Bessel function in the quadratically shifting case. The oscillatory behavior of both functions corresponds to Stuckelberg oscillations, an interference effect described by the semiclassical Landau-Zener-Stuckelberg model. The measurements prove coherent dipole-dipole interaction during at least 0.6 mu s.

We have observed resonant energy transfer between cold Rydberg atoms in spatially separated cylinders. Resonant dipole-dipole coupling excites the 49s atoms in one cylinder to the 49p state while the 41d atoms in the second cylinder are transferred down to the 42p state. We have measured the production of the 49p state as a function of separation of the cylinders (0-80 microm) and the interaction time (0-25 micros). In addition, we measured the width of the electric field resonances. A full many-body quantum calculation reproduces the main features of the experiments.

Radio-frequency (rf) fields in the MHz range are used to induce resonant energy transfer between cold Rydberg atoms in spatially separated volumes. After laser preparation of the Rydberg atoms, dipole-dipole coupling excites the 49s atoms in one cylinder to the 49p state while the 41d atoms in the second cylinder are transferred down to the 42p state. The energy exchanged between the atoms in this process is 33 GHz. An external rf field brings this energy transfer into resonance. The strength of the interaction has been investigated as a function of amplitude (0-1 V/cm) and frequency (1-30 MHz) of the rf field and as a function of a static-field offset. Multiphoton transitions up to fifth order as well as selection rules prohibiting the process at certain fields have been observed. The width of the resonances has been reduced compared to earlier results by switching off external magnetic fields of the magneto-optical trap, making sub-MHz spectroscopy possible. All features are well reproduced by theoretical calculations taking the strong ac Stark shift due to the rf field into account.

We present a technique for state-selective position detection of cold Rydberg atoms. Ground state Rb atoms in a magneto-optical trap are excited to a Rydberg state and are subsequently ionized with a tailored electric field pulse. This pulse selectively ionizes only atoms in e.g. the 54d state and not in the 53d state. The released electrons are detected after a slow flight towards a micro channel plate. From the time of flight of the electrons the position of the atoms is deduced. The state selectivity is about 20:1 when comparing 54d with 53d and the one-dimensional position resolution ranges from 6 to 40 μm over a range of 300 μm. This state selectivity and position resolution are sufficient to allow for the observation of coherent quantum excitation transport.

Measurements of the radiative properties of cold 87Rb atoms close to a dielectric/vacuum interface are reported. This is the first observation of a quantum-electrodynamic (QED) modification of radiative properties in vacuum near a dielectric surface. Evanescent wave (EW) spectroscopy on cold atoms that were dropped on a glass surface was used. An increase of the natural linewidth by up to 25% compared to the free space value was found. This was attributed to QED broadening and level shifts, as well as local Stark shifts near the surface. By varying the characteristic EW length, a position dependence characteristic for QED was observed. The role of transient internal dynamics of the atoms as they move through the strongly inhomogeneous EW was investigated.

We investigate the question as to whether Michelson-type interferometry is possible if the role of the beam splitter is played by a spontaneous process. This question arises from an inspection of trajectories of atoms bouncing inelastically from an evanescent-wave (EW) mirror. Each final velocity can be reached via two possible paths, with a spontaneous Raman transition occurring during either the ingoing or the outgoing part of the trajectory. At first sight, one might expect that the spontaneous character of the Raman transfer would destroy the coherence and thus the interference. We investigated this problem by numerically solving the Schrodinger equation and applying a Monte Carlo wave-function approach. We find interference fringes in velocity space, even when random photon recoils are taken into account.

We have observed a distance-dependent absorption linewidth of cold $^{87}$Rb atoms close to a dielectric-vacuum interface. This is the first observation of modified radiative properties in vacuum near a dielectric surface. A cloud of cold atoms was created using a magneto-optical trap (MOT) and optical molasses cooling. Evanescent waves (EW) were used to observe the behavior of the atoms near the surface. We observed an increase of the absorption linewidth with up to 25% with respect to the free-space value. Approximately half the broadening can be explained by cavity-quantum electrodynamics (CQED) as an increase of the natural linewidth and inhomogeneous broadening. The remainder we attribute to local Stark shifts near the surface. By varying the characteristic EW length we have observed a distance dependence characteristic for CQED.

We demonstrate a new and efficient laser-locking technique that enables making large frequency jumps while keeping the laser in lock. A diode laser is locked at a variable offset from a Doppler-free spectral feature of rubidium vapor. This is done by frequency shifting the laser before sending the light to a spectroscopy cell with an acousto-optic modulator (AOM). The frequency of the locked laser is switched quasi-instantaneously over much more than the width of the spectral features, i.e., the usual locking range. This is done by simultaneously switching the AOM frequency and applying feed-forward to the laser current. The advantage of our technique is that power loss and beam walk caused by the AOM do not affect the main output beam but only the small fraction of light used for the spectroscopy. The transient excursions of the laser frequency are only a few MHz and last approximately 0.2 ms, limited by the bandwidth of our locking electronics. We present equations that describe the transient behavior of the error signal and the laser frequency quantitatively. They are in good agreement with the measurements. The technique should be applicable to other types of lasers.

We demonstrate a new and efficient laser-locking technique that enables making large frequency jumps while keeping the laser in lock. A diode laser is locked at a variable offset from a Doppler-free spectral feature of rubidium vapor, by frequency shifting the laser {\em before} sending the light to a spectroscopy cell, using an acousto-optic modulator (AOM). The frequency of the locked laser is switched quasi-instantaneously over much more than the width of the spectral features, i.e. the usual locking range. This is done by simultaneously switching the AOM frequency and applying feed-forward to the laser current. The advantage of our technique is that power loss and beam walk caused by the AOM do not affect the main output beam, but only the small fraction of light used for the spectroscopy. The transient excursions of the laser frequency are only a few MHz and last approximately 0.2 ms, limited by the bandwidth of our locking electronics. We present equations that describe the transient behavior of the error signal and the laser frequency quantitatively. They are in good agreement with the measurements. The technique should be applicable to other types of lasers.