Ensembles of cold Rydberg atoms are prepared by excitation of laser-cooled atom clouds into high-lying Rydberg states using broadband and narrow-band laser pulses. Three complementary approaches are used to explore the behavior of these highly-exicited atoms. In one avenue, cold atom clouds are excited into Rydberg levels, and the subsequent evolution of the Rydberg-atom gases is studied. In the second project component, the interaction between Rydberg atoms and ponderomotive potentials generated by standing-wave laser fields is investigated. The third component of the project deals with the dynamics of ground-state atoms in near-resonant optical lattices. The broader impact of the program involves student training as well as efforts in outreach, through the NASA Summer High School Apprenticeship Research Program, the University of Michigan Physics Olympiad, and the Michigan Math and Science Scholars program, and applications to precision measurements.
