Real-time detection of Rydberg state dynamics of cold atoms using an optical cavity

Abstract: This work reports on the real-time detection of internal-state dynamics of cold Rb$^{87}$ atoms being excited to the $30D_{5/2}$ Rydberg state via two-photon excitation. A mesoscopic cloud of atoms is overlapped with the mode volume of a confocal optical cavity and optically pumped by two laser beams transverse to the cavity axis. The excitation to Rydberg states changes the collective atom-cavity coupling, which is detected by monitoring the light transmitted through the cavity while being weakly driven. In addition to the damped coherent excitation dynamics and the decay back to the ground state, the data show a superradiant enhancement of the black-body radiation induced transitions from the $30D_{5/2}$ state to neighboring Rydberg states. Furthermore, they show a density dependent mitigation of the superradiant decay which is attributed to long range dipole-dipole interactions between atoms in the involved Rydberg states. These results contribute to solving a recent controversy on the interplay between BBR-induced superradiance and Rydberg atom interactions.