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SUMMARY:Rydberg physics with cold strontium - Dr James Millen (Durham Univ
 ersity)
DTSTART:20101019T100000Z
DTEND:20101019T110000Z
UID:TALK27454@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:6270
DESCRIPTION:Atoms in states of high principal quantum number\, Rydberg ato
 ms\, are much studied due to their extremely large interaction energies. T
 hese interactions lead to phenomena such as a collective suppression of ex
 citation\, the “dipole blockade”\, which in turn leads to highly entan
 gled many-body states. Rydberg gases also spontaneously evolve into ultra-
 cold neutral plasmas\, which are highly correlated many-body classical sys
 tems.\n\nAll previous cold Rydberg gas experiments use atoms with one vale
 nce electron. By using strontium\, a divalent atom\, we open up a whole ne
 w field of study. The second valence electron enables us to probe and cont
 rol the Rydberg atoms in a previously impossible way. This includes\, in o
 ur latest work\, an elucidation of population transfer in a Rydberg gas at
  the cold-plasma formation threshold through excitation of both valence el
 ectrons.\n\n\n
LOCATION:Rutherford building\, Seminar Room B
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