Rydberg-Rydberg interactions and ultracold Rydberg-Rydberg molecules

超冷原子气体为探索多体系统的量子物理提供了前所未有的机会，并且是研究量子物质和相关奇异现象的通用模型系统。在这些领域的成功可以归因于对超冷原子的卓越控制水平，以及发展了强大的新方法，可以直接获得这些新系统的宏观和微观性质。我们建议利用致密量子气体中高激发里德堡原子的特殊性质，特别是它们的可调谐长程相互作用，带着这个有趣的原子模型系统进入强关联多体物理学的领域。我们引入了一种新的光学方法，直接成像量子气体中的单个里德堡原子，为新的物理机制提供了更大的实验途径。这种基于电磁感应透明的方法，结合里德伯原子之间的可调强相互作用，将为我们提供增强的灵敏度，高分辨率的单个里德伯原子在基态原子或玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚态的被困气体中的单次拍摄图像。这种直接成像里德伯原子的新能力将提供直接的实验访问最近预测的晶体状态的里德伯气体在偶极封锁制度，偶极量子气体通过里德伯敷料，并与介观原子系综的多粒子纠缠的研究。预期的结果将揭示有关量子动力学和多体量子系统纠缠的基本问题，并将有助于更好地理解强相关机制中的复杂现象。

Ultracold atomic gases offer unprecedented opportunities to explore the quantum physics of many-body systems and are versatile model systems for investigating quantum matter and associated exotic phenomena. Much of the success in these areas can be attributed to the outstanding level of control possible over ultracold atoms, and to the development of powerful new methods which can provide direct access to the macroscopic and microscopic properties of these novel systems.We propose to make use of the exceptional properties of highly-excited Rydberg atoms in dense quantum gases, in particular their tunable long-range interactions, to enter the realm of strongly-correlated many-body physics with this intriguing atomic model system. We introduce a new optical method to directly image individual Rydberg atoms within a quantum gas, providing even greater experimental access to new physical regimes. This method based on electromagnetically induced transparency, in combination with the tunable strong interactions between Rydberg atoms will provide us with enhanced sensitivity, high-resolution single-shot images of individual Rydberg atoms within a trapped gas of ground state atoms or a Bose-Einstein condensate. This new capability to directly image the Rydberg atoms will provide immediate experimental access to recently predicted crystalline states of Rydberg gases in the dipole blockade regime, to dipolar quantum gases through Rydberg-dressing, and to the study of many-particle entanglement with mesoscopic atomic ensembles. The anticipated outcomes will shed light on the fundamental issues concerning quantum dynamics and entanglement in many-body quantum systems and will contribute to a better understanding of complex phenomena in strongly-correlated regimes.