%0 Journal Article
%T Dynamically Probing Ultracold Lattice Gases via Rydberg Molecules
%A Torsten Manthey
%A Thomas Niederpr¨¹m
%A Oliver Thomas
%A Herwig Ott
%J Physics
%D 2015
%I arXiv
%R 10.1088/1367-2630/17/10/103024
%X We show that the excitation of long-range Rydberg molecules in a three-dimensional optical lattice can be used as a position- and time-sensitive probe of the site occupancy in the system. To this end, we detect the ions which are continuously generated by the decay of the formed Rydberg molecules. While a superfluid gas shows molecule formation for all parameters, a Mott insulator with $n=1$ filling reveals a strong suppression of the number of formed molecules. In the limit of weak probing, the technique can be used to probe the superfluid to Mott-insulator transition in real-time. Our method can be extended to higher fillings and has various applications for the real-time diagnosis and manipulation of ultracold lattice gases.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.05955v1