Pump-probe spectroscopy of two-body correlations in ultracold gases

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Dec 31;103(26):260401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.260401. Epub 2009 Dec 21.

Abstract

We suggest pump-probe spectroscopy to study pair correlations that determine the many-body dynamics in weakly interacting, dilute ultracold gases. A suitably chosen, short laser pulse depletes the pair density locally, creating a "hole" in the electronic ground state. The dynamics of this nonstationary pair density is monitored by a time-delayed probe pulse. The resulting transient signal allows us to spectrally decompose the hole and to map out the pair correlation function.