Facilitation-Induced Transparency and Single-Photon Switch with Dual-Channel Rydberg Interactions

Ding, Yao; Bai, Zhengyang; Huang, Guoxiang; Li, Weibin

Abstract

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 multichannel settings. Moreover, we demonstrate that such a FIT permits the realization of 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.

Citation

Ding, Y., Bai, Z., Huang, G., & Li, W. (2023). Facilitation-Induced Transparency and Single-Photon Switch with Dual-Channel Rydberg Interactions. Physical Review Applied, 19(1), Article 014017. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.19.014017

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 28, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jan 5, 2023
• Publication Date: Jan 5, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jan 16, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 27, 2023
• Journal: Physical Review Applied
• Electronic ISSN: 2331-7019
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 014017
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.19.014017
• Keywords: General Physics and Astronomy
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/15718545
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prapplied/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.19.014017
• Additional Information: Facilitation-Induced Transparency and Single-Photon Switch with Dual-Channel Rydberg Interactions, Ding, Yao and Bai, Zhengyang and Huang, Guoxiang and Li, Weibin, Phys. Rev. Appl., 19, 1, 014017, American Physical Society, https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.19.014017