Submission Date
5-7-2025
Document Type
Paper
Department
Physics & Astronomy
Adviser
Thomas Carroll
Committee Member
Thomas Carroll
Committee Member
Ross Martin-Wells
Department Chair
Casey Schwarz
External Reviewer
Michael Noel
Distinguished Honors
This paper has met the requirements for Distinguished Honors.
Project Description
An isolated system of ultracold Rydberg atoms can come to equilibrium by exchanging energy through dipole-dipole interactions. In our experiment, a static electric field of a few V/cm shifts the energy levels of the atoms, so that the energy levels are nearly degenerate at zero field and fan out with increasing field to form a manifold. We excite atoms to energy levels near the center of the manifold, where the spacing is nearly harmonic. We allow them to interact for a few microseconds, by which time the population of each energy level has reached a steady state. The population is then measured at various densities and compared to simulation results. We use the notion of dynamical typicality to predict the equilibrium configuration and show that the system fails to thermalize.
Recommended Citation
Chlanda, Nicolaus A., "Nonthermalizing Dynamics of Interacting Rydberg Atoms" (2025). Physics and Astronomy Honors Papers. 17.
https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/physics_astro_hon/17
