Interactions of cold atoms in Rydberg states.

利用宽带和窄带激光脉冲将激光冷却的原子云激发成高能级里德伯态，制备了冷里德伯原子系综。三种互补的方法被用来探索这些高激发态原子的行为。在一种途径中，冷原子云被激发到里德堡能级，然后研究里德堡原子气体的后续演化。在第二个项目中，研究了驻波激光场产生的里德伯原子与质动势之间的相互作用。该项目的第三个组成部分涉及近共振光学晶格中基态原子的动力学。该计划的广泛影响包括学生培训以及通过NASA暑期高中学徒研究计划、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进行的推广工作，以及精密测量的应用。

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.