Rabi oscillations between ground and Rydberg states with dipole-dipole atomic interactions

We demonstrate Rabi oscillations of small numbers of 87Rb atoms between ground and Rydberg states with n< or =43. Coherent population oscillations are observed for single atoms, while the presence of two or more atoms decoheres the oscillations. We show that these observations are consistent with van der Waals interactions of Rydberg atoms.     

Cooperative transient for atoms driven by a weak coherent field

We present a simple quantum-mechanical treatment of the cooperative interaction between an ensemble of two-level atoms initially in their ground state and the electromagnetic field inside a Fabry-Perot cavity, in the weak field limit. In this limit the atoms have to be considered as being collectively dressed by the field and important cooperative effects are expected in the transient regime. It is shown that, in a first approximation, the evolution of the atom-field system in the general case can be deduced from the very simple “one-excitation” problem. A Rabi nutation at a frequency which depends essentially on the number of atoms is predicted. At resonance, these oscillations are closely related to superradiance “ringing” oscillations and have been observed very recently.     

Intermittency and dynamical chaos in reversible spontaneous emission

It is shown that a type of reversible spontaneous emission, the chaotic vacuum Rabi oscillations, may occur in the interaction of two-level atoms strongly coupled with a single cavity mode under a modulation of the atom-field coupling. Such a modulation arises naturally if the atoms move through a cavity in maserlike experiments. The existence of homoclinic chaos in reversible spontaneous emission is proven analytically. Evidence of intermittency associated with the spatial modulation of the vacuum Rabi frequency is shown numerically for the values of parameters that are achievable in present-day experiments with Rydberg atoms moving through a high-Q microwave cavity in the strong-coupling regime.     

Study of frequency-modulated excitation of Rydberg potassium atoms by using B-spline

With the B-spline expansion technique and a model potential of the alkali atoms, the properties of frequency-modulated excitation of Rydberg potassium atoms in a static electric field and a microwave field are investigated by using the time-dependent two-level approach. We successfully reproduce the square wave oscillations in the low frequency, the stair step population oscillations in the intermediate frequency, and the multiphoton transitions in the high frequency with respect to the unmodulated Rabi frequency, which have been observed experimentally by Noel et al. [Phys. Rev. A 58 2265 (1998)]. Furthermore, we also numerically obtain the discretized Rabi oscillations predicted in the Landau-Zener accumulation model.     

Self—Trapping State and Atomic Tunnelling Current of an Atomic Bose—Einstein Condensate Interacting with a Laser Field in a Double—Well Potential

We present a theoretical treatment of dynamics of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensation interacting with a single-mode quantized travelling-wave laser field in a double-well potential.When the atom-field system is initially in a coherent state,expressions for the energy exchange between atoms and photons are derived.It is revealed that atoms in the two wells can be in a self-trapping state when the tunnelling frequency satisfies two specific conditions,in which the resonant and far off-resonant cases are included.It is found that there is an alternating current with two different sinusoidal oscillations between the two wells,but no dc characteristic of the atomic tunnelling current occurs.It should be emphasized that when without the laser field,both the population difference and the atomic tunnelling current are only a single oscillation.But they will respectively become a superposition of two oscillations with different oscillatory frequencies in the presence of the laser field.For the two oscillations of the population difference,one always has an increment in the oscillatory frequency,the other can have an increment or a decrease under different cases.These conclusions are also suitable to those of the atomic tunnelling current.As a possible application,by measurement of the atomic tunnelling current between the two wells,the number of Bose-condensed atoms can be evaluated.By poperly selecting the laser field,the expected atomic tunnelling current can be obtained too.     

Ξ型三能级原子玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体单模光场系统中双模原子激光的压缩性质

研究了Ξ型三能级原子玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体单模光场系统中双模原子激光的压缩性质.结果表明:双模原子激光能被周期性压缩,并且具有量子Rabi振荡和崩塌-回复现象两种形式的振荡.最大压缩深度和崩塌-回复振荡频率主要依赖于光场与原子间相互作用强度,量子Rabi振荡频率主要由光场圆频率决定.     

Tests of quantum mechanics with single atoms in high Q cavities

A Rydberg atom coupled to a single field mode in a high Q superconducting cavity is an ideal tool to perform experiments testing the most puzzling aspects of the quantum theory. The coupling between the atom and the field is either resonant or dispersive. In the resonant case, quantum Rabi oscillations in the vacuum or in a small coherent field injected in the cavity are observed. The analysis of these signals reveals in a striking way the quantization of the field. Quantum Rabi oscillations are also used to produce entanglement between successive atoms crossing the cavity. Dispersive atom-field coupling is used to prepare coherent superpositions of field states with different phases (Schrödinger cat states). The progressive decoherence of these states is studied by measuring correlations between the energies of pairs of atoms sent through the cavity with a variable delay between them. These experiments provide fundamental tests of quantum theory and shed light on the transition from quantum to classical in mesoscopic systems.     

Rabi oscillations of optical modes in a waveguide with dynamic modulation

We investigate the optical Rabi oscillations in a dual-mode slab waveguide that undergoes a spatial–temporal refractive index modulation. Frequency conversion is induced during Rabi oscillations since dynamic modulation is employed. We also show that the contrast of Rabi oscillations can be controlled by the initial phase of dynamic modulation, which can be tuned arbitrarily from zero to unity as the phase varies. The contrast of zero corresponds to the dynamic supermodes and unity refers to complete Rabi oscillations. It suggests that the phase can be a new degree of freedom to control optical Rabi oscillations. This study may find applications in optical sensors, switches and mode converters.     

Transport characteristics of Rabi oscillations in the two-band superlattices

We investigated the transport characteristics of Rabi oscillations, by using numerical methods, within a two-band tight-binding model driven by dc－ac electric fields. We found that Rabi oscillations make the long-time average current a sharply change, i.e. the current have resonant peaks appearing. Rabi oscillations are destroyed by dephasing; these peaks are the signatures of Rabi oscillations on the current response. The strong interband coupling will change the conditions of Rabi oscillations and, correspondingly, changes the places where the current resonant peaks appear.     

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.     

Internal Josephson-like tunnelling in two-component Bose--Einstein condensates affected by sign of the atomic interaction and external trapping potential

This paper studies the Josephson-like tunnelling in two-component Bose--Einstein condensates coupled with microwave field, which is in respond to various attractive and repulsive atomic interaction under the various aspect ratio of trapping potential. It is very interesting to find that the dynamic of Josephson-like tunnelling can be controlled from fast damped oscillations to nondamped oscillation, and relative number of atoms changes from asymmetric occupation to symmetric occupation correspondingly.     

Few-boson dynamics in double wells: from single-atom to correlated pair tunneling

We investigate few-boson tunneling in a one-dimensional double well, covering the full crossover from weak interactions to the fermionization limit of strong correlations. Based on exact quantum-dynamical calculations, it is found that the tunneling dynamics of two atoms evolves from Rabi oscillations to correlated pair tunneling as we increase the interaction strength. Near the fermionization limit, fragmented-pair tunneling is observed and analyzed in terms of the population imbalance and two-body correlations. For more atoms, the tunneling dynamics near fermionization is shown to be sensitive to both atom number and initial configuration.     

A theoretical study of pump–probe experiment in single-layer,bilayer and multilayer graphene

The pump–probe experiment is typically used to study relaxation phenomena in nonlinear optical systems. Here we use it as a tool to study the phenomenon of anomalous Rabi oscillations in graphene that was predicted recently in single-layer graphene. Unlike conventional Rabi oscillations, anomalous Rabi oscillations are unique to graphene (and possibly to surface states of topological insulators (TIs)), attributable to the pseudospin (conventional spin for TI) degree of freedom and Dirac-fermion character of the graphene system. A pump pulse of a finite duration long enough to contain a large number of cycles induces a current density that oscillates with the frequency of the pump pulse. The amplitude associated with these fast oscillations is seen to exhibit much slower oscillations with a frequency given by \({ 2 \omega ^2_{\mathrm {R}} }/{ \omega } \) – the anomalous Rabi frequency, where ω _R is the conventional Rabi frequency and ω is the frequency of the external pump field. This effect is easily probed by a probe pulse subsequent to the pump, where it manifests itself as periodic oscillations of the probe susceptibility as a function of pump duration at each probe frequency. Alternatively, it is also seen as an oscillatory function of the pump–probe delay with other variables remaining fixed. This period corresponds to the anomalous Rabi frequency. An analysis of the previously reported experimental data confirms the presence of anomalous Rabi oscillations in graphene.     

Enhanced superradiance effect in a system of interacting two-level atoms and crossover from coherent to many-atom multiphoton relaxation regime

We study effects of direct interatomic interaction on cooperative processes in atom-photon dynamics. Using a model of two-level atoms with Ising-type interaction as an example, it is demonstrated that interparticle interaction can promote cooperative radiative relaxation. For small number of atoms this results in inhibition of incoherent spontaneous decay leading to the regime of collective pulse relaxation. Above superradiance threshold increase in delay time and enhancement of superradiance is occurred. In the case of strong interaction (as compared to excitation energy of an atom) transition to the regime of multiphoton relaxation occurs, which we discuss using a simple model of two atoms in a high-Q single mode cavity. It is shown that such transition is accompanied by Rabi oscillations involving many-atom multiphoton states. Dephasing effect of dipole-dipole interaction and solitonic mechanism of relaxation are discussed as well.     

Frequency-modulated excitation of Rydberg potassium atoms by using B-spline

By using the B-spline expansion technique and a model potential of the alkali atoms, the properties of frequency- modulated excitation of Rydberg potassium atoms in a static electric field and a microwave field are investigated by using the time-dependent two-level approach. We successfully reproduce the square wave oscillations in the low frequency, the stair step population oscillations in the intermediate frequency, and the multiphoton transitions in the high frequency with respect to the unmodulated Rabi frequency, which have been observed experimentally by Noel et al. [Phys. Rev. A 58 2265 (1998)]. Furthermore, we also numerically obtain the discretized Rabi oscillations predicted in the Landau-Zener accumulation model.     

Crossed vortex bottle beam trap for single-atom qubits

We demonstrate trapping and quantum state control of single cesium atoms in a 532 nm wavelength bottle beam trap. The three-dimensional trap is formed by crossing two unit charge vortex beams. Single atoms are loaded with 50% probability directly from a magneto-optical trap. We achieve a trapping lifetime of up to 6 s and demonstrate fast Rabi oscillations with a coherence time of T(2)~43±9 ms.     

The Rabi frequency in optical spectra

The use of tunable lasers in atomic spectroscopy has provided new opportunities to study the effects of intense coherent resonant radiation on the dynamics of atoms. Under such conditions Rabi oscillations of state probability amplitudes lead to a plethora of new effects in optical spectra such as dynamic Stark splitting of resonances, nutational oscillations in fluorescence and periodic photon bunching and antibunching of the emitted light. We review the extensive developments of effects concerned with the “dressing” of atomic states by intense resonant fields.     

Coherent nonlinear electromagnetic response in twisted bilayer and few-layer graphene

The phenomenon of Rabi oscillations far from resonance is described in bilayer and few-layer graphene. These oscillations in the population and polarization at the Dirac point in n-layer graphene are seen in the nth harmonic term in the external driving frequency. The underlying reason behind these oscillations is attributable to the pseudospin degree of freedom possessed by all these systems. Conventional Rabi oscillations, which occur only near resonance, are seen in multiple harmonics in multilayer graphene. However, the experimentally measurable current density exhibits anomalous behaviour only in the first harmonic in all the graphene systems. A fully numerical solution of the optical Bloch equations is in complete agreement with the analytical results, thereby justifying the approximation schemes used in the latter. The same phenomena are also described in twisted bilayer graphene with and without an electric potential difference between the layers. It is found that the anomalous Rabi frequency is strongly dependent on twist angle for weak applied fields – a feature absent in single-layer graphene, whereas the conventional Rabi frequency is relatively independent of the twist angle.     

Nondestructive probing of Rabi oscillations on the cesium clock transition near the standard quantum limit

We report on the nondestructive observation of Rabi oscillations on the Cs clock transition. The internal atomic state evolution of a dipole-trapped ensemble of cold atoms is inferred from the phase shift of a probe laser beam as measured using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. We describe a single color as well as a two-color probing scheme. Using the latter, measurements of the collective pseudospin projection of atoms in a superposition of the clock states are performed and the observed spin fluctuations are shown to be close to the standard quantum limit.     

Rabi-oscillation-enhanced frequency conversion in quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifiers

We investigate the nonlinear light propagation in InAs/InGaAs quantum-dot-in-a-well semiconductor optical amplifiers in the limit of strong optical excitation where Rabi oscillations are excited in the active medium. The amplifier is analyzed in a degenerate four-wave-mixing setup and characterized by its frequency conversion and creation performance. Our simulations show that the interplay between the nonlinear four-wave-mixing process and the coherent Rabi oscillations greatly influences the frequency conversion process. Rabi oscillations can be resonantly excited by the correct choice of the frequency detuning between pump and probe signals, which greatly enhances the nonlinear frequency conversion efficiency at frequencies up to several THz. We furthermore show that the coherent pulse shaping of ultrashort optical pulses in the quantum-dot medium can greatly enhance their spectral bandwidth, potentially allowing for ultra-broad-band frequency comb generation.