Probing nonlocal spatial correlations in quantum gases with ultra-long-range Rydberg molecules
Abstract
We present photoexcitation of ultra-long-range Rydberg molecules as a probe of spatial correlations in bosonic and fermionic quantum gases. Rydberg molecules can be created with well-defined internuclear spacing, set by the radius of the outer lobe of the Rydberg electron wave function Rn. By varying the principal quantum number n of the target Rydberg state, the molecular excitation rate can be used to map the pair-correlation function of the trapped gas g(2 )(Rn) . We demonstrate this with ultracold Sr gases and probe pair-separation length scales in the range Rn=1400 -3200 a0, which are on the order of the thermal de Broglie wavelength for temperatures around 1 μ K . We observe bunching for a single-component Bose gas of 84 Sr and antibunching due to Pauli exclusion at short distances for a polarized Fermi gas of 87 Sr , revealing the effects of quantum statistics.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review A
- Pub Date:
- July 2019
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevA.100.011402
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1903.11526
- Bibcode:
- 2019PhRvA.100a1402W
- Keywords:
-
- Physics - Atomic Physics;
- Condensed Matter - Quantum Gases
- E-Print:
- 6 pages, 5 figures