Observation of the Dipole Blockade Effect in Detecting Rydberg Atoms by the Selective Field Ionization Method

The dipole blockade effect at laser excitation of mesoscopic ensembles of Rydberg atoms lies in the fact that the excitation of one atom to a Rydberg state blocks the excitation of other atoms due to the shift in the collective energy levels of interacting Rydberg atoms. It is used to obtain the entangled qubit states based on single neutral atoms in optical traps. In this paper, we present our experimental results on the observation of the dipole blockade for mesoscopic ensembles of 1–5 atoms when they are detected by the selective field ionization method. We have investigated the spectra of the three-photon laser excitation 5S1/2 → 5P3/2 → 6S1/2 → nP3/2 of cold Rydberg Rb atoms in a magneto-optical trap. We have found that for mesoscopic ensembles this method allows only a partial dipole blockage to be observed. This is most likely related to the presence of parasitic electric fields reducing the interaction energy of Rydberg atoms, the decrease in the probability of detecting high states, and the strong angular dependence of the interaction energy of Rydberg atoms in a single interaction volume.     

Properties of collective Rabi oscillations with two Rydberg atoms

Motivated by experimental advances that the collective excitation of two Rydberg atoms was observed, we provide an elaborate theoretical study for the dynamical behavior of two-atom Rabi oscillations. In the large-intermediate-detuning case, the two-photon Rabi oscillation is found to be significantly affected by the strength of the interatomic van der Waals interaction. With a careful comparison of the exact numbers and values of the oscillation frequency, we propose a new way to determine the strength of excitation blockade, agreeing well with the previous universal criterion for full, partial, and no blockade regions. In the small-intermediate-detuning case, we find a blockade-like effect, but the collective enhancement factor is smaller than ~(1/2) due to the quantum interference of double optical transitions involving the intermediate state.Moreover, a fast two-photon Rabi oscillation in ns timescale is manifested by employing intense lasers with an intensity of ~MW/cm~2, offering a possibility of ultrafast control of quantum dynamics with Rydberg atoms.     

Local blockade of Rydberg excitation in an ultracold gas

In the laser excitation of ultracold atoms to Rydberg states, we observe a dramatic suppression caused by van der Waals interactions. This behavior is interpreted as a local excitation blockade: Rydberg atoms strongly inhibit excitation of their neighbors. We measure suppression, relative to isolated atom excitation, by up to a factor of 6.4. The dependences of this suppression on both laser irradiance and atomic density are in good agreement with a mean-field model. These results are an important step towards using ultracold Rydberg atoms in quantum information processing.     

Rabi oscillations and excitation trapping in the coherent excitation of a mesoscopic frozen Rydberg gas

We demonstrate the coherent excitation of a mesoscopic ensemble of about 100 ultracold atoms to Rydberg states by driving Rabi oscillations from the atomic ground state. We employ a dedicated beam shaping and optical pumping scheme to compensate for the small transition matrix element. We study the excitation in a weakly interacting regime and in the regime of strong interactions. When increasing the interaction strength by pair state resonances, we observe an increased excitation rate through coupling to high angular momentum states. This effect is in contrast to the proposed and previously observed interaction-induced suppression of excitation, the so-called dipole blockade.     

Electric-field induced dipole blockade with Rydberg atoms

High resolution laser Stark excitation of np (60相似文献   

Echo experiments in a strongly interacting Rydberg gas

When ground state atoms are excited to a Rydberg state, van der Waals interactions among them can lead to a strong suppression of the excitation. Despite the strong interactions the evolution can still be reversed by a simple phase shift in the excitation laser field. We experimentally prove the coherence of the excitation in the strong blockade regime by applying an "optical rotary echo" technique to a sample of magnetically trapped ultracold atoms, analogous to a method known from nuclear magnetic resonance. We additionally measured the dephasing time due to the interaction between the Rydberg atoms.     

Dipole blockade at Förster resonances in high resolution laser excitation of Rydberg states of cesium atoms

High resolution laser excitation of np Rydberg states of cesium atoms shows a dipole blockade at F?rster resonances corresponding to the resonant dipole-dipole energy transfer of the np+np --> ns+(n+1)s reaction. The dipole-dipole interaction can be tuned on and off by the Stark effect, and such a process, observed for relatively low n(25-41), is promising for quantum gate devices. Both Penning ionization and saturation in the laser excitation can limit the range of observation of the dipole blockade.     

Quantum computing with collective ensembles of multilevel systems

We propose a new physical approach for encoding and processing of quantum information in ensembles of multilevel quantum systems, where the different bits are not carried by individual particles but associated with the collective population of different internal levels. One- and two-bit gates are implemented by collective internal state transitions taking place in the presence of an excitation blockade mechanism, which restricts the population of each internal state to the values zero and unity. Quantum computers with 10-20 bits can be built via this scheme in single trapped clouds of ground state atoms subject to the Rydberg excitation blockade mechanism, and the linear dependence between register size and the number of internal quantum states in atoms offers realistic means to reach larger registers.     

Error correction in ensemble registers for quantum repeaters and quantum computers

We propose to use a collective excitation blockade mechanism to identify errors that occur due to disturbances of single atoms in ensemble quantum registers where qubits are stored in the collective population of different internal atomic states. A simple error correction procedure and a simple decoherence-free encoding of ensemble qubits in the hyperfine states of alkali-metal atoms are presented.     

Parametric collective phenomena during the propagation of polychromatic laser pulses in an optically dense resonant medium without population inversion

We experimentally and theoretically study the interaction of broadband polychromatic laser pulses with an optically dense resonant extended medium without population inversion. Experimental (probe field-pumping beam) measurements of the transmission and amplification spectra were carried out in the plasma of a positive neon glow-discharge column containing a large number of metastable atoms. The strong coupling in the field-matter system and the collective behavior of the atomic system in a resonant field were attributable to a high (～10¹² cm^?3) density of atoms at the lower (metastable) level of the optical transitions under consideration and to a relatively low intensity of the interacting laser beams. We observed a broadband weakening of the probe field in the absence of pumping and its strengthening in the line wings in the presence of a strong field. We develop a theoretical model for the parametric amplification of collective interactions in dense extended media based on the solution of the semiclassical Maxwell-Bloch equations for conditions under which the pumping field does not destroy the dipole interaction between atoms through probe-field photons.     

Subject index to volume 50

Squeezing characteristics of the radiation field produced by a collective system of atoms driven by a coherent field are calculated. The collective behavior is found to affect the squeezing behavior considerably.     

Quantum gates and multiparticle entanglement by Rydberg excitation blockade and adiabatic passage

We propose to apply stimulated adiabatic passage to transfer atoms from their ground state into Rydberg excited states. Atoms a few micrometers apart experience a dipole-dipole interaction among Rydberg states that is strong enough to shift the atomic resonance and inhibit excitation of more than a single atom. We show that the adiabatic passage in the presence of this interaction between two atoms leads to robust creation of maximally entangled states and to two-bit quantum gates. For many atoms, the excitation blockade leads to an effective implementation of collective-spin and Jaynes-Cummings-like Hamiltonians, and we show that the adiabatic passage can be used to generate collective J_{x}=0 eigenstates and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states of tens of atoms.     

Photoemission from multiply excited surface plasmons in Ag nanoparticles

Two-photon photoemission spectroscopy using femtosecond laser pulses is used to investigate the excitation and decay mechanisms of the surface plasmon resonance in Ag nanoparticles grown on graphite. The resonant excitation of this collective excitation leads to a two-orders-of-magnitude-enhanced two-photon photoemission yield from a graphite surface with Ag nanoparticles compared to the yield from pure graphite. From the shape of the photoemission spectra, the polarization dependence of the photoemission yield and the excitation probabilities for different excitation pathways we conclude that excitation with 400-nm femtosecond laser pulses leads to the coherent multiple excitation of the surface plasmon in the Ag nanoparticles. This multiply excited plasmon mode can decay via the coupling to a single-particle excitation leading to the emission of an electron if its final state is located in the continuum. The surface plasmon in metallic nanoparticles is a model system to investigate collective excitations in multiphoton processes. Received: 26 June 2000 / Accepted: 2 September 2000 / Published online: 12 October 2000     

Experimental evidence of the existence of a nonstationary coherent crystal state in bismuth

The excitation of a bismuth (Bi) crystal by intense ultrashort laser pulses at liquid-helium temperature leads to consistent motion of atoms and variations in the electron density. At various time instants over an interval reaching several dosen picoseconds, atoms in the Bi lattice exhibit sequential pairing in the real and reciprocal spaces. This behavior may correspond to the formation of a coherent crystal—a special state of matter that combines the properties of a solid and quantum fluid. Experimental data showing evidence of the possible existence of this unusual state are presented and analyzed.     

Emergence of excited-state plasmon modes in linear hydrogen chains from time-dependent quantum mechanical methods

Explicitly time-dependent configuration-interaction theory is used to predict a new type of plasmonic behavior in linear hydrogen chains. After an intense ultrashort laser pulse brings the system into a broad superposition of excited states, the electronic dipole of the entire chain oscillates coherently, and the system is predicted to emit radiation at energies significantly lower than the first absorption band. A simple classical model accurately predicts the energy of this plasmon resonance for different hydrogen chain lengths and electron densities, demonstrating that collective, free-electron-like behavior can arise in chains of as few as 20 hydrogen atoms. The excitation mechanism for this plasmonic resonance is a highly nonlinear, multiphoton process, different from the linear excitation of ordinary surface plasmons.     

Investigation of coherent phonons in bismuth by femtosecond laser and X-ray pulse probing

Using femtosecond laser pulses, coordinated oscillations (coherent phonons) of Bi single-crystal atoms have been excited and recorded. The comparison with experimental results on the X-ray probing of coherent phonons at the same excitation energy density demonstrates that the observed lifetime and frequency shift of the oscillations are similar in both cases. Moreover, it has been revealed that the relaxation (incoherent) contributions are identical. This coincidence of the photoinduced response parameters indicates that probing in the visible spectrum correctly reflects the coherent dynamics of the Bi crystal lattice.     

Interaction of argon clusters with intense VUV-laser radiation: the role of electronic structure in the energy-deposition process

The response of Ar clusters to intense vacuum-ultraviolet pulses is investigated with photoion spec-troscopy. By varying the laser wavelength, the initial excitation was either tuned to absorption bands of surface or bulk atoms of clusters. Multiple ionization is observed, which leads to Coulomb explosion. The efficiency of resonant 2-photon ionization for initial bulk and surface excitation is compared with that of the nonresonant process at different laser intensities. The specific electronic structure of clusters plays almost no role in the explosion dynamics at a peak intensity larger than 1.8 x 10(12) W/cm(2). The inner ionization of atoms for resonant and nonresonant excitation is then saturated and the energy deposition is mainly controlled by the plasma heating rate. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that standard collisional heating cannot fully account for the strong energy absorption.     

Four-Wave Scattering of a Laser Beam by Induced Collective Oscillations of Solid Nanoparticles in Suspensions

Spectra of coherent scattering at four-wave mixing of two diode laser radiation in liquid suspensions of dielectric nanoparticles are obtained for the first time. Dependence of the scattering resonance width on the concentration of nanoparticles in the suspension is studied. It is shown that the experimentally observed dependences of the width of the scattered radiation spectrum on the concentration of nanoparticles in the suspension result from the collective excitation of acoustic phonons.     

Phase transition in a radiation-matter interaction with recoil and collisions

The standard model introduced to describe the collective atomic recoil of an ensemble of atoms interacting with a strong electromagnetic field has been here extended by the inclusion of collisions with a buffer gas. As a result, we find that in the thermodynamic limit the coherent emission of radiation exhibits a continuous phase transition upon increasing the pump intensity. The output laser field is strictly larger than 0 only above a critical value. We find that the transition is not associated with the onset of spatial ordering but rather with the onset of a synchronization between the polarization phase and spatial position. A coherence parameter is introduced to characterize the phase transition.     

Two-electron atoms in strong fields

Multiphoton excitation and ionization of two-electron atoms under strong laser pulses, with emphasis on double excitation, is reviewed. After an introduction to the basic concepts of traditional single-photon spectroscopy and methodology, the main phenomena and experimental observations under multiphoton excitation in the perturbative regime are summarized. That is followed by the discussion of the main ideas underlying various non-perturbative approaches, especially as they pertain to the two-electron problem. The present state of understanding non-perturbative time-dependent behavior, in that context and in relation to issues such as correlation, double excitation, sequential and direct double ionization, is then formulated and discussed. The article ends with a summary of effects relating to autoionizing states in strong fields and an outlook for future developments.