分类： 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间： 2023-02-19
Liping Hao
Zhengyang Bai
Jingxu Bai
Suying Bai
Yuechun Jiao
Guoxiang Huang
Jianming Zhao
Weibin Li
Suotang Jia
摘要： An ensemble of excited atoms can synchronize emission of light collectively in a process known as superradiance when its characteristic size is smaller than the wavelength of emitted photons. The underlying superradiance depends strongly on electromagnetic (photon) fields surrounding the atomic ensemble. High mode densities of microwave photons from $300\,$K blackbody radiation (BBR) significantly enhance decay rates of Rydberg states to neighbouring states, enabling superradiance that is not possible with bare vacuum induced spontaneous decay. Here we report observations of the superradiance of ultracold Rydberg atoms embedded in a bath of room-temperature photons. The temporal evolution of the Rydberg $|nD\rangle$ to $|(n+1)P\rangle$ superradiant decay of Cs atoms ($n$ the principal quantum number) is measured directly in free space. Theoretical simulations confirm the BBR enhanced superradiance in large Rydberg ensembles. We demonstrate that the van der Waals interactions between Rydberg atoms change the superradiant dynamics and modify the scaling of the superradiance. In the presence of static electric fields, we find that the superradiance becomes slow, potentially due to many-body interaction induced dephasing. Our study provides insights into many-body dynamics of interacting atoms coupled to thermal BBR, and might open a route to the design of blackbody thermometry at microwave frequencies via collective, dissipative photon-atom interactions.
分类： 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间： 2023-02-19
摘要： We consider the quantum effect of slow light dark soliton (SLDS) in a cold atomic gas with defocuing Kerr nonlinearity via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We calculate the quantum fluctuations of the SLDS by solving the relevant non-Hermitian eigenvalue problem describing the quantum fluctuations, and find that only one zero mode is allowed. This is different from the quantum fluctuations of bright solitons, where two independent zero modes occur. We rigorously prove that the eigenmodes, which consist of continuous modes and the zero mode, are bi-orthogonal and constitute a complete bi-orthonormalized basis, useful for the calculation on the quantum fluctuations of the SLDS. We demonstrate that, due to the large Kerr nonlinearity contributed from the EIT effect, a significant quantum squeezing of the SLDS can be realized; the squeezing efficiency can be manipulated by the Kerr nonlinearity and the soliton's amplitude, which can be much higher than that of bright solitons. Our work contributes to efforts for developing quantum nonlinear optics and non-Hermitian Physics, and for possible applications in quantum information processing and precision measurements.
分类： 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间： 2023-02-19
摘要： We investigate the quantum squeezing of slow-light solitons generated in a $\Lambda$-shaped three-level atomic system working under condition of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We show that due to the giant Kerr nonlinearity contributed from the EIT effect, significant quantum squeezing of the slow-light soliton can be realized within a short propagation distance. The results reported here are helpful for understanding the quantum property of slow-light solitons and for realizing light squeezing via EIT in cold atomic gases experimentally.
分类： 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间： 2023-02-19
摘要： Realization and manipulation of parity-time (PT) symmetry in multidimensional systems are highly desirable for exploring nontrivial physics and uncovering exotic phenomena in non-Hermitian systems. Here, we report the first experimental observation of partial PT (pPT) symmetry in a cesium atomic gas coupled with laser fields, where a two-dimensional pPT-symmetric optical potential for probe laser beam is created. A transition of the pPT symmetry from an unbroken phase to a broken one is observed through changing the beam-waist ratio of the control and probe laser beams, and the domains of unbroken, broken, and non-pPT phases are also discriminated unambiguously. Moreover, we develop a technique to precisely determine the location of the exceptional point of the pPT symmetry breaking by measuring the asymmetry degree of the probe-beam intensity distribution. The findings reported here pave the way for controlling multidimensional laser beams in non-Hermitian systems via laser-induced atomic coherence, and have potential applications for designing new types of light amplifiers and attenuators
分类： 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间： 2023-02-19
摘要： We investigate facilitation induced transparency (FIT) enabled by strong and long-range Rydberg atom interactions between two spatially separated optical channels. In this setting, the resonant two-photon excitation of Rydberg states in a target channel is conditioned by a single Rydberg excitation in a control channel. Through the contactless coupling enabled by the Rydberg interaction, the optical transparency of the target channel can be actively manipulated by steering the optical detuning in the control channel. By adopting a dressed-state picture, we identify two different interference pathways, in which one corresponds to Rydberg blockade and an emergent one results from facilitation. We show that the FIT is originated from the Rydberg interaction and the quantum interference effect between the two pathways, which is different from conventional electromagnetically induced transparency realized by single-body laser-atom coupling. We find that the FIT in such a dual-channel setting is rather robust, insensitive to changes of systemic parameters, and can be generalized to multi-channel settings. Moreover, we demonstrate that such a FIT permits to realize controllable single-photon switches, which also paves a route to detect Rydberg facilitation by using optical absorption spectra. Our study contributes to current efforts in probing correlated many-body dynamics and developing single-photon quantum devices based on Rydberg atom ensembles.
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