Ultracold atomic dynamics: <br> From a plasma to Rydberg molecules

The talk will give an introduction to a new wealth of phenomena in
the context of ultracold gases
just above the condensation limit. We will start with the creation
of ultracold plasmas and discuss how they can become
laboratory examples for strongly coupled plasmas so far only known
from astrophysical objects.
As a second topic we will pay closer attention to possible
interaction of cold atoms when some of them are Rydberg excited. This
leads to the phenomenon of interaction blockade, i.e., only one atom
can be excited.
Finally, we will discuss the formation of long range bound structures
in the ultracold gas, such as Rydberg molecules.
Favorable circumstances allow the formation of molecules even under
repulsive interaction of Rydberg and ground state atoms.