Photon correlation transients in a weakly blockaded Rydberg ensemble

Efficient atomic memory using electromagnetically induced absorption

We propose a scheme to demonstrate the existence of optical Peregrine rogue waves and Akhmediev and Kuznetsov-Ma breathers and realize their active control via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). The system we suggest is a cold, $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$-type three-level atomic gas interacting with a probe and a control laser fields and working under EIT condition. We show that, based on EIT with an incoherent optical pumping, which can be used to cancel optical absorption, (1+1)-dimensional optical Peregrine rogue waves, Akhmediev breathers, and Kuznetsov-Ma breathers can be generated with very low light power. In addition, we demonstrate that the Akhmediev and Kuznetsov-Ma breathers in (2+1)-dimensions obtained can be actively manipulated by using an external magnetic field. As a result, these breathers can display trajectory deflections and bypass obstacles during propagation.

Cavity-linewidth narrowing in a ring cavity that is due to the high dispersion and reduced absorption produced by electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in rubidium-atom vapor has been experimentally observed. The cavity linewidth with rubidium atoms under EIT conditions can be significantly narrowed. Cavity-linewidth narrowing was measured as a function of coupling beam power.

Nanoscale solid-state single photon router

We report on a versatile, highly controllable hybrid cold Rydberg atom fiber interface, based on laser cooled atoms transported into a hollow core Kagom\'{e} crystal fiber. Our experiments are the first to demonstrate the feasibility of exciting cold Rydberg atoms inside a hollow core fiber and we study the influence of the fiber on Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) signals. Using a temporally resolved detection method to distinguish between excitation and loss, we observe two different regimes of the Rydberg excitations: one EIT regime and one regime dominated by atom loss. These results are a substantial advancement towards future use of our system for quantum simulation or information.

Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) has been realized in atomic systems, but fulfilling the EIT conditions for artificial atoms made from superconducting circuits is a more difficult task. Here we report an experimental observation of the EIT in a tunable three-dimensional transmon by probing the cavity transmission. To fulfill the EIT conditions, we tune the transmon to adjust its damping rates by utilizing the effect of the cavity on the transmon states. From the experimental observations, we clearly identify the EIT and Autler-Townes splitting (ATS) regimes as well as the transition regime in between. Also, the experimental data demonstrate that the threshold $\Omega_{\rm AIC}$ determined by the Akaike information criterion can describe the EIT-ATS transition better than the threshold $\Omega_{\rm EIT}$ given by the EIT theory.

We study theoretically laser excitation of Rydberg triplet states of strontium atoms in the presence of weak microwave (MW) fields. Starting from the ground state $5s^2\,^1S_0$, the Rydberg excitation is realized through the metastable, triplet $5s5p\,^3P_1$ state, whose decay rate $\gamma_2$ is $2\pi\times 7.5$ kHz, much smaller than the one in the singlet state or alkali atoms. The influences of $\gamma_2$ on the transparency and absorption spectrum in the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), and electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) regime are examined. Narrow transparent windows (EIT) or absorption peaks (EIA) are found, whose distance in the spectrum depends on the Rabi frequency of the weak MW field. It is found that the spectrum exhibits higher contrast than using the singlet state or alkali atoms in typical situations. Using the metastable intermediate state, we find that resonance fluorescence of Sr gases exhibits very narrow peaks, which are modulated by the MW field. When the MW field is weaker than the probe and control light, the spectrum distance of these peaks are linearly proportional to $\Omega_m$. This allows us to propose a new way to sense very weak MW fields through resonance fluorescence. Our study shows that the Sr triplet state could be used to develop the Rydberg MW electrometry that gains unique advantages.

Light orbital angular momentum (OAM) has been recognized as a new promising resource for classical and quantum information applications. In contrast to the spin angular momentum, the OAM is an inherently multidimensional. Thus, the information can be encoded in the higher-dimensional OAM alphabets. Recently, Marrucci et al. have invented a new device named q-plate (QP), made of liquid crystal cell patterned in such a way to introduce a topological charge q at the transverse plane, which is able to generate a well-defined values of photon OAM. My research has been aimed at investigating the physics of the QP, of the optical fields that it generates and of its possible applications for optical communication and quantum information. We studied both theoretically and experimentally a novel set of non-orthogonal but over-complete paraxial modes, named Hypergeometric-Gaussian modes, that is typically associated with OAM-carrying optical fields. We have also found the light propagation kernel inside the QP and we have shown analytically that if small losses due to reflection, absorption, and scattering are neglected, the QP can convert the photon spin into OAM with up to 100 \% efficiency. We implemented a technique to control the QP optical retardation by tuning the QP temperature. At the optimal temperature, the QP can generate a beam with up to 97\% efficiency. Moreover, the OAM state generated by QP can be rotated easily in the 2D OAM Hilbert space by proper manipulation of the input polarization state, a fact which opens a new way of beam shape controlling in MHz scale. We also performed a novel way to encode and read two bits information on the 4D OAM space by using only one QP. Finally, we experimentally demonstrated the transfer of quantum information from spin to OAM and vice versa, including the case of bi-photon states having quantum correlations. Furthermore, by exploiting these quantum information transfer devices, we demonstrated the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect and the optimal quantum cloning with OAM-carrying photons.

The switch between the enhancement and suppression of the four-wave mixing (FWM) process in an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) window via quantum interference has been demonstrated experimentally. The enhancement and suppression of the FWM signal, as well as the EIT window, switch with a change in the probe detuning. Also, by controlling the powers of the dressing and probe fields, the enhancement and suppression of the FWM signal can be switched and an optimized enhancement can be obtained. Such a switch of the enhancement and suppression of the FWM signal intensity can find potential applications in optical switches, optical communication and quantum information processes.

Transfer and conversion of images between different wavelengths or polarization has significant applications in optical communication and quantum information processing. We demonstrated the transfer of images based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a rubidium vapor cell. In experiments, a 2D image generated by a spatial light modulator is used as a coupling field, and a plane wave served as a signal field. We found that the image carried by coupling field could be transferred to that carried by signal field, and the spatial patterns of transferred image are much better than that of the initial image. It also could be much smaller than that determined by the diffraction limit of the optical system. We also studied the subdiffraction propagation for the transferred image. Our results may have applications in quantum interference lithography and coherent Raman spectroscopy.

In the past few years, there has been an increasingly active exchange of ideas and methods between the formerly rather disjunct fields of quantum information and many-body physics. This has been due, on the one hand, to the growing sophisti- cation of methods and the increasing complexity of problems treated in quantum information theory, and, on the other, to the recognition that a number of central issues in many-body quantum systems can fruitfully be approached from the quan- tum information point of view. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the context of the family of numerical methods that go under the rubric density-matrix renormalization group. In particular, the concept of entanglement and its definition, measurement, and manipulation lies at the heart of much of quantum information theory (1). The density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) methods use proper- ties of the entanglement of a bipartite system to build up an accurate approximation to particular many-body wave functions. The cross-fertilization between the two fields has led to improvements in the understanding of interacting quantum systems in general and the DMRG method in particular, has led to new algorithms related to and generalizing the DMRG, and has opened up the possibility of studying many new physical problems, ones of interest both for quantum information theory and for understanding the behavior of strongly correlated quantum systems (2). In this line, we discuss some relevant concepts in quantum information theory, including the relation between the DMRG and data compression and entanglement. As an application, we will use the quantum information entropy calculated with the DMRG to study quantum phase transitions, in particular in the bilinear-biquadratic spin-one chain and in the frustrated spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain.

We propose a method to controllably suppress the effect of the four-wave mixing caused by the coupling of the strong control optical field to both optical transitions in the system under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). At sufficiently high atomic density, this process leads to amplification of a weak optical signal field, that is detrimental for the fidelity of any EIT-based quantum information applications. Here we show that an additional absorption resonance centred around the Stokes field frequency, generated in such a four-wave mixing process, may efficiently suppress the unwanted probe amplification without affecting properties of the EIT interaction. We discuss the possibility of creating such tunable absorption using two-photon Raman absorption resonances in the other Rb isotope, and present some preliminary experimental results.

Surface defects created and probed with scanning tunneling microscopes are a promising platform for atomic-scale electronics and quantum information technology applications. Using first-principles calculations we demonstrate how to engineer dangling bond (DB) defects on hydrogenated Si(100) surfaces, which give rise to isolated impurity states that can be used in atomic-scale devices. In particular we show that sample thickness and biaxial strain can serve as control parameters to design the electronic properties of DB defects. While in thick Si samples the neutral DB state is resonant with bulk valence bands, ultrathin samples (1-2 nm) lead to an isolated impurity state in the gap; similar behavior is seen for DB pairs and DB wires. Strain further isolates the DB from the valence band, with the response to strain heavily dependent on sample thickness. These findings suggest new methods for tuning the properties of defects on surfaces for electronic and quantum information applications. Finally, we present a consistent and unifying interpretation of many results presented in the literature for DB defects on hydrogenated silicon surfaces, rationalizing apparent discrepancies between different experiments and simulations.

We propose a scheme to construct a two-dimensional Aubry-Andr\'e (AA) model and realize two-dimensional AA localization of light waves via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). The system we suggest is a cold, resonant atomic gas with an $N$-type level configuration and interacting with probe, control, assisted, and far-detuned laser fields. We show that under EIT conditions the probe-field envelope obeys a modified nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with a quasiperiodic potential, which becomes a two-dimensional nonlinear AA model when the system parameters are suitably chosen. The quasiperiodic potential is obtained by the cross-phase modulation of the assisted field and the Stark shift of the far-detuned laser field. In addition, the cubic nonlinearity term appearing in the model is contributed by the self-phase modulation of the probe field. We demonstrate that the system can be used to not only realize various two-dimensional AA localizations of light waves, but also to display nonlinearity and dimensionality effects on the AA localizations.

Electromagnetically Induced Transparency is an effect that allows light to propagate through an otherwise opaque material. Due to the dispersion properties of the EIT system, it also slows the information carried on the sideband frequencies of a light beam. The effect can also be used to store information in an atomic medium. It was thereforw proposed that EIT systems can be applied in optical cicuits, specifically with regard to quantum information processing where it is necessary to delay, or store quantum states of light. Hence it is necessary to understand how EIT systems influence the quantum state of a light beam and whether EIT systems can ever have the potential to delay and store quantum information at the quantum noise limit. This thesis examines the transfer of an optical signal at the sideband frequencies through an EIT medium. A comprehensive characterisation of an EIT system in terms of delay and signal transmission is performed. This measurement technique provides data on EIT performance over a range of signal frequencies and a range of experimental parameters. Experiments were conducted with both pure Rubidium vapour and Rubidium vapour mixed with a noble gas. Studies have been made into a new system of measurement that will allow delay, attenuation and added noise spectra to be assessed via a single-shot measurement.