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Strong dipole-exchange interactions due to spontaneously produced contaminant states can trigger rapid dephasing in many-body Rydberg ensembles [E. Goldschmidt et al., PRL 116, 113001 (2016)]. Such broadening has serious implications for many proposals to coherently use Rydberg interactions, particularly Rydberg dressing proposals. The dephasing arises as a runaway process where the production of the first contaminant atoms facilitates the creation of more contaminant atoms. Here we study the time dependence of this process with stroboscopic approaches. Using a pump-probe technique, we create an excess "pump" Rydberg population and probe its effect with a different "probe" Rydberg transition. We observe a reduced resonant pumping rate and an enhancement of the excitation on both sides of the transition as atoms are added to the pump state. We also observe a timescale for population growth significantly shorter than predicted by homogeneous mean-field models, as expected from a clustered growth mechanism where high-order correlations dominate the dynamics. These results support earlier works and confirm that the time scale for the onset of dephasing is reduced by a factor which scales as the inverse of the atom number. In addition, we discuss several approaches to minimize these effects of spontaneous broadening, including stroboscopic techniques and operating at cryogenic temperatures. It is challenging to avoid the unwanted broadening effects, but under some conditions they can be mitigated., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures

We observe interaction-induced broadening of the two-photon 5s-18s transition in 87Rb atoms trapped in a 3D optical lattice. The measured linewidth increases by nearly two orders of magnitude with increasing atomic density and excitation strength, with corresponding suppression of resonant scattering and enhancement of off-resonant scattering. We attribute the increased linewidth to resonant dipole-dipole interactions of 18s atoms with spontaneously created populations of nearby np states. Over a range of initial atomic densities and excitation strengths, the transition width is described by a single function of the steady-state density of Rydberg atoms, and the observed resonant excitation rate corresponds to that of a two-level system with the measured, rather than natural, linewidth. The broadening mechanism observed here is likely to have negative implications for many proposals with coherently interacting Rydberg atoms., Comment: 5+3 pages

The software developed on this project in FY-84 was put into final form and documented for McIDAS user access. The various users have been asked to utilize the techniques and to provide feedback to the developers. Researchers have received limited feedback to date, but nearly all has been helpful and generally favorable. The stereo display has been used by most of the operational users of McIDAS or its progenies. Specifically, the National Hurricane Center, the National Severe Storm Forecast Center, the National Meteorological Center, and the Cape Canaveral Forecast Facility have all made use of the 4-D display techniques to help evaluate meteorological situations on various occasions.

During FY-85 the data gathering process was completed. This gave researchers a reasonably complete picture of the Shuttle's operational weather support units and requirements. They expanded on the site visits of FY-84 with telephone follow-up. They finalized recommendations and wrote the final report. The final report was accepted by NASA and has been published as NASA Contractor Report CR-171418.

Although focused toward the operational meteorological support review and definition of an operational meteorological interactive data display systems (MIDDS) requirements for the Space Meteorology Support Group at NASA/Johnson Space Center, the total operational meteorological support requirements and a systems concept for the MIDDS network integration of NASA and Air Force elements to support the National Space Transportation System are also addressed.

Data collected by the lightning data concentrator are available for research. The Mark 3 McIDAS capability provides greater flexibility for the Marshall user community and serves as a model of future UW McIDAS to remote computer links. Techniques were investigated for the display of dynamic 3-D data sets. To date the most promising display technology is a polarized two CRT perspective display which allows both dynamic 3-D images and graphics presentations with full color capability. Algorithms were for the preparation and display of conventional and satellite based weather data in 3-D. These include gridding, contouring, and streamlining processors which operate on both real time and case study data bases. An upper air trajectory model was implemented which creates a display of air parcel trajectories in perspective 3-D. A subsystem for the generation of 3-D solid surface display with shading and hidden surface display with shading and hidden surface removal was tested and its products are currently being evaluated. Motion parallax introduced by moving the point of observation during display is an important depth cue, which, when added to the perspective parallax creates a very realistic appearing display.