Patterned Rydberg excitation and ionization with a spatial light modulator

Abstract Wedemonstrate the ability to excite atoms at well-defined, programmable locations in a magnetooptical trap, either to the continuum (ionization), or to a Rydberg state. To this end, excitation laser light is shaped into arbitrary intensity patterns with a spatial light modulator. These optical patterns are sensitive to aberrations of the phase of the light field, occurring while traversing the optical beamline. These aberrations are characterized and corrected without observing the actual light field in the vacuum chamber.