Direct Measurement of the van der Waals Interaction between Two Rydberg Atoms

作者：Beguin L^*; Vernier A; Chicireanu R; Lahaye T; Browaeys A

来源：Physical Review Letters, 2013, 110(26): UNSP 263201.

DOI：10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.263201

We report the direct measurement of the van der Waals interaction between two isolated, single Rydberg atoms separated by a controlled distance of a few micrometers. Working in a regime where the single-atom Rabi frequency for excitation to the Rydberg state is comparable to the interaction, we observe partial Rydberg blockade, whereby the time-dependent populations of the various two-atom states exhibit coherent oscillations with several frequencies. Quantitative comparison of the data with a simple model based on the optical Bloch equations allows us to extract the van der Waals energy, and observe its characteristic C-6/R-6 dependence. The measured C-6 coefficients agree well with ab initio calculations, and we observe their dramatic increase with the principal quantum number n of the Rydberg state.

• 出版日期2013-6-24