GHz Rabi flopping to Rydberg states in hot atomic vapor cells

Experimental Realization of Reconfigurable Photonic Lattices in Coherent Rydberg Atomic Vapors

We experimentally demonstrated the formation of a one-dimensional electromagnetically induced optical lattice in coherently prepared three-level 85Rb Rydberg atomic vapors with electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). The one-dimensional photonic lattice was optically induced by a coupling field with a spatially periodical intensity distribution deriving from the interference of two strong Gaussian beams from the same laser source (~480 nm). Under the Rydberg-EIT condition, the incident weak probe beam can feel a tunable spatially modulated susceptibility, which is verified by the controllable discrete diffraction pattern observed at the output plane of the vapor cell. This investigation not only opens the door for experimentally introducing the strong interaction between Rydberg atoms to govern the beam dynamics in photonic lattices based on atomic coherence but also provides an easily accessible periodic environment for exploring Rydberg-atom physics and related applications.

Adiabatic and high-fidelity quantum gates with hybrid Rydberg-Rydberg interactions

Rydberg blockaded gate is a fundamental ingredient for scalable quantum computation with neutral Rydberg atoms. However the fidelity of such a gate is intrinsically limited by a blockade error coming from a Rydberg level shift that forbids its extensive use. Based on a dark-state adiabatic passage, we develop a novel protocol for realizing a two-atom blockade-error-free quantum gate in a hybrid system with simultaneous van der Waals (vdWsI) and resonant dipole-dipole interactions (DDI). The basic idea relies on converting the roles of two interactions, which is, the DDI serves as one time-dependent tunable pulse and the vdWsI acts as a negligible middle level shift, as long as the adiabatic condition is preserved. We adopt an optimized super-Gaussian optical pulse with kπ(k ≫ 1) area accompanied by a smooth tuning for the DDI, composing a circular stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, which can robustly ensure a faster operation time ∼ 80ns as well as a highly-efficient gate fidelity ∼ 0.9996. This theoretical protocol offers a flexible treatment for hybrid interactions in complex Rydberg systems, enabling on-demand design of new types of effective Rydberg quantum gate devices.

A room-temperature single-photon source based on strongly interacting Rydberg atoms

Tailored quantum states of light can be created via a transfer of collective quantum states of matter to light modes. Such collective quantum states emerge in interacting many-body systems if thermal fluctuations are overcome by sufficient interaction strengths. Therefore, ultracold temperatures or strong confinement are typically required. We show that the exaggerated interactions between Rydberg atoms allow for collective quantum states even above room temperature. The emerging Rydberg interactions lead both to suppression of multiple Rydberg state excitations and destructive interference due to polariton dephasing. We experimentally implemented a four-wave mixing scheme to demonstrate an on-demand single-photon source. The combination of glass cell technology, identical atoms, and operation around room temperature promises scalability and integrability. This approach has the potential for various applications in quantum information processing and communication.

Novel Rydberg eight-wave mixing process controlled in the nonlinear phase of a circularly polarized field

Eight-wave mixing (EWM) is a seven-order nonlinear process that can reflect nonclassical features within multiple optical fields, thus imparting certain advantages. In this study, we directly observed the EWM spectrum and spatial images that show Rydberg atoms under a circularly polarized probe field in a five-level coherently prepared atomic system. Such circular polarization dressing fields can obtain high-contrast Rydberg EWM overcome the difficulties of several multi-wave mixing (MWM) signals always coexist, and the multi-parameter controlling Rydberg EWM mechanism is established by changing the power and detuning and polarization of the dressing fields. These controllable high-order MWM processes present a contrast ratio of 96% and a narrow linewidth of <30 MHz compared with low-order mixing processes under identical conditions (e.g., six-wave mixing). The corresponding MWM spatial images are presented, and they can partly reflect the underlying nonlinear phase variation, whereas the given theory can predict the experimental results.

Fast Quantum State Transfer and Entanglement Renormalization Using Long-Range Interactions

In short-range interacting systems, the speed at which entanglement can be established between two separated points is limited by a constant Lieb-Robinson velocity. Long-range interacting systems are capable of faster entanglement generation, but the degree of the speedup possible is an open question. In this Letter, we present a protocol capable of transferring a quantum state across a distance L in d dimensions using long-range interactions with a strength bounded by 1/r^{α}. If α Collapse

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Grants

• 9999-NIST Intramural NIST DOC

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Affiliation(s)

Zachary Eldredge Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, NIST/University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
Zhe-Xuan Gong Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, NIST/University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA
Jeremy T Young Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, NIST/University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
Ali Hamed Moosavian Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, NIST/University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
Michael Foss-Feig Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, NIST/University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA United States Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, Maryland 20783, USA
Alexey V Gorshkov Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, NIST/University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA

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Rydberg-atom based radio-frequency electrometry using frequency modulation spectroscopy in room temperature vapor cells

Rydberg atom-based electrometry enables traceable electric field measurements with high sensitivity over a large frequency range, from gigahertz to terahertz. Such measurements are particularly useful for the calibration of radio frequency and terahertz devices, as well as other applications like near field imaging of electric fields. We utilize frequency modulated spectroscopy with active control of residual amplitude modulation to improve the signal to noise ratio of the optical readout of Rydberg atom-based radio frequency electrometry. Matched filtering of the signal is also implemented. Although we have reached similarly, high sensitivity with other read-out methods, frequency modulated spectroscopy is advantageous because it is well-suited for building a compact, portable sensor. In the current experiment, ∼3 µV cm^-1 Hz^-1/2 sensitivity is achieved and is found to be photon shot noise limited.

Quantum State Transmission in a Superconducting Charge Qubit-Atom Hybrid

Hybrids consisting of macroscopic superconducting circuits and microscopic components, such as atoms and spins, have the potential of transmitting an arbitrary state between different quantum species, leading to the prospective of high-speed operation and long-time storage of quantum information. Here we propose a novel hybrid structure, where a neutral-atom qubit directly interfaces with a superconducting charge qubit, to implement the qubit-state transmission. The highly-excited Rydberg atom located inside the gate capacitor strongly affects the behavior of Cooper pairs in the box while the atom in the ground state hardly interferes with the superconducting device. In addition, the DC Stark shift of the atomic states significantly depends on the charge-qubit states. By means of the standard spectroscopic techniques and sweeping the gate voltage bias, we show how to transfer an arbitrary quantum state from the superconducting device to the atom and vice versa.

Pulsed Rydberg four-wave mixing with motion-induced dephasing in a thermal vapor

We report on time-resolved pulsed four-wave mixing (FWM) signals in a thermal Rubidium vapor involving a Rydberg state. We observe FWM signals with dephasing times up to 7 ns, strongly dependent on the excitation bandwidth to the Rydberg state. The excitation to the Rydberg state is driven by a pulsed two-photon transition on ns timescales. Combined with a cw de-excitation laser, a strongly directional and collective emission is generated according to a combination of the phase matching effect and averaging over Doppler classes. In contrast to a previous report (Huber et al. in Phys Rev A 90: 053806, 2014) using off-resonant FWM, at a resonant FWM scheme we observe additional revivals of the signal shortly after the incident pulse has ended. We infer that this is a revival of motion-induced constructive interference between the coherent emissions of the thermal atoms. The resonant FWM scheme reveals a richer temporal structure of the signals, compared to similar, but off-resonant excitation schemes. A simple explanation lies in the selectivity of Doppler classes. Our numerical simulations based on a four-level model including a whole Doppler ensemble can qualitatively describe the data.

Eight-wave mixing process in a Rydberg-dressing atomic ensemble

We investigate the eight-wave mixing (EWM) process involving highly excited Rydberg states with the assistance of coexisting electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) windows in a thermal ⁸⁵Rb vapor both theoretically and experimentally. By use of a disturbance-free optical detection method, the Rydberg EWM characterized by multiple sets of spin coherence is presented via the interplay and competition between the dressing-state effects and excitation blockade caused by strong Rydberg-Rydberg interaction. Such interplay and competition can be demonstrated by the intensity evolutions of multi-wave mixing (MWM) signals via controlling the atomic density, the frequency detuning and Rabi frequencies of corresponding laser fields. The observed Rydberg EWM tailored by EIT windows can possess of much narrower linewidth <30MHz and provide a new way for the study of Rydberg effect in the atomic ensemble above room temperature.

Strongly Correlated Growth of Rydberg Aggregates in a Vapor Cell

The observation of strongly interacting many-body phenomena in atomic gases typically requires ultracold samples. Here we show that the strong interaction potentials between Rydberg atoms enable the observation of many-body effects in an atomic vapor, even at room temperature. We excite Rydberg atoms in cesium vapor and observe in real time an out-of-equilibrium excitation dynamics that is consistent with an aggregation mechanism. The experimental observations show qualitative and quantitative agreement with a microscopic theoretical model. Numerical simulations reveal that the strongly correlated growth of the emerging aggregates is reminiscent of soft-matter type systems.

Rydberg dressing evolution via Rabi frequency control in thermal atomic vapors

We report for the first time the theoretical and experimental research on Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency and second-order fluorescence dressing evolution by Rabi frequency control in thermal atomic vapors, in which the controlled results are well explained by the dressing effect and the Rydberg excitation blockade. Based on the certification of the Rydberg excitation blockade fraction through the dependence on principle quantum number n, we obtain dressing evolution curves, consisting of single-dressing and double-dressing in local and nonlocal blockade samples by scanning the probe and dressing fields. In addition, the competition between the Rydberg dressing second-order fluorescence and fourth-order fluorescence is first investigated. A corresponding theory is presented, which is consistent with the experimental results. Such blockade evolution regularity has potential applications in quantum control, and the Rydberg dressing may be useful for investigating multiple-body interactions, as well as for inducing short range interactions in Bose-Einstein condensates.

Evidence for strong van der Waals type Rydberg-Rydberg interaction in a thermal vapor

We present evidence for Rydberg-Rydberg interaction in a gas of rubidium atoms above room temperature. Rabi oscillations on the nanosecond time scale to different Rydberg states are investigated in a vapor cell experiment. Analyzing the atomic time evolution and comparing to a dephasing model, we find a scaling with the Rydberg quantum number n that is consistent with van der Waals interaction. Our results show that the interaction strength can be larger than the kinetic energy scale (Doppler width), which is the requirement for realization of thermal quantum devices in the GHz regime.