Speaker
Matthias Weidemüller
(University of Heidelberg)
Description
The investigation of Rydberg atoms has a long history,
dating back to the early days of Atomic Physics. Rydberg
gases at ultra-low temperatures were first realized only in
the last decade by combining advances in atom manipulation
and cooling with narrow-band laser excitation of Rydberg
states. The exquisite controlof the electronic excitation
and the centre-of-mass motion, employing external fields,
allows one to exploit the unique and exaggerated properties
of Rydberg atoms, namely their large size, large electronic
orbiting times, small electronic binding energy, and
extremely strong dipole–dipole and van derWaals
interactions. The combination of strong atomic interactions
and a high level of quantum control, reaching down to the
single atom level, gives rise to both new fundamental
physics and interesting applications of Rydberg gases,
including for example investigations of novel phases of
quantum matter, and controlled preparation of atom or photon
entanglement. In my presentation I will give a general
introduction into the field and discuss some recent
experiments of my group.