Quantum Zeno Suppression of Intramolecular Forces

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dc.citation.epage6en_US
dc.citation.issueNumber1en_US
dc.citation.spage1en_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber119en_US
dc.contributor.authorWüster, S.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2018-04-12T11:03:27Z
dc.date.available2018-04-12T11:03:27Z
dc.date.issued2017en_US
dc.departmentDepartment of Physicsen_US
dc.description.abstractWe show that Born-Oppenheimer surfaces can intrinsically decohere, implying loss of coherence among constituent electronic basis states. We consider the example of interatomic forces due to resonant dipole-dipole interactions within a dimer of highly excited Rydberg atoms, embedded in an ultracold gas. These forces rely on a coherent superposition of two-atom electronic states, which is destroyed by continuous monitoring of the dimer state through a detection scheme utilizing the background gas atoms. We show that this intrinsic decoherence of the molecular energy surface can gradually deteriorate a repulsive dimer state, causing a mixing of attractive and repulsive character. For sufficiently strong decoherence, a Zeno-like effect causes a complete cessation of interatomic forces. We finally show how short decohering pulses can controllably redistribute population between the different molecular energy surfaces.en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.013001en_US
dc.identifier.issn0031-9007
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11693/37126
dc.language.isoEnglishen_US
dc.publisherAmerican Physical Societyen_US
dc.relation.isversionofhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.013001en_US
dc.source.titlePhysical Review Lettersen_US
dc.subjectAtomsen_US
dc.subjectQuantum theoryen_US
dc.subjectBorn-Oppenheimeren_US
dc.subjectCoherent superpositionsen_US
dc.subjectContinuous monitoringen_US
dc.subjectDipole dipole interactionsen_US
dc.subjectInteratomic forcesen_US
dc.subjectIntramolecular forcesen_US
dc.subjectIntrinsic decoherenceen_US
dc.subjectMolecular energiesen_US
dc.subjectDimersen_US
dc.titleQuantum Zeno Suppression of Intramolecular Forcesen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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