Interactions of cold atoms in Rydberg states.

冷里德伯原子系综的制备是通过使用宽带和窄带激光脉冲将激光冷却的原子云激发到高位里德伯态来实现的。三种互补的方法被用来探索这些高激发原子的行为。在一种途径中，冷原子云被激发到里德伯能级，并研究里德伯原子气体的后续演化。在第二个项目中，研究了里德堡原子与驻波激光场产生的有质动力势之间的相互作用。该项目的第三部分涉及近共振光学晶格中基态原子的动力学。该计划的更广泛的影响包括学生培训以及通过NASA夏季高中学徒研究计划，密歇根大学物理奥林匹克竞赛和密歇根数学和科学学者计划以及精密测量应用程序的推广工作。

Ensembles of cold Rydberg atoms are prepared by excitation of laser-cooled atom clouds into high-lying Rydberg states using broadband and narrow-band laser pulses. Three complementary approaches are used to explore the behavior of these highly-exicited atoms. In one avenue, cold atom clouds are excited into Rydberg levels, and the subsequent evolution of the Rydberg-atom gases is studied. In the second project component, the interaction between Rydberg atoms and ponderomotive potentials generated by standing-wave laser fields is investigated. The third component of the project deals with the dynamics of ground-state atoms in near-resonant optical lattices. The broader impact of the program involves student training as well as efforts in outreach, through the NASA Summer High School Apprenticeship Research Program, the University of Michigan Physics Olympiad, and the Michigan Math and Science Scholars program, and applications to precision measurements.