Photon correlation transients in a weakly blockaded Rydberg ensemble

Möhl, Charles; Spong, Nicholas LR; Yuechun, Jiao; So, Chloe; Ilieva, Teodora; Weidemüller, Matthias; Adams, Charles S

Abstract

The nonlinear and non-local effects in atomic Rydberg media under electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) make it a versatile platform for fundamental studies and applications in quantum information. In this paper, we study the dynamics of a Rydberg-EIT system in an ensemble that allows for more than one Rydberg excitation in the propagation direction. The density of two-level atoms is such that transient superradiant effects occur. We experimentally observe a cross-over between coherent collective emission ('flash') of two-level atoms to a Rydberg dressed regime ('dressed flash') under EIT condition. The complex dynamics are characterised using both intensity and time correlation measurements. We show that while steady-state EIT gives a second order correlation g (2) = 0.79 ± 0.04, the Rydberg-dressed flash exhibits anti-bunching down to 0.2 ± 0.04.

Citation

Möhl, C., Spong, N. L., Yuechun, J., So, C., Ilieva, T., Weidemüller, M., & Adams, C. S. (2020). Photon correlation transients in a weakly blockaded Rydberg ensemble. Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, 53(8), Article 084005. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6455/ab728f

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 3, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Apr 28, 2020
• Publication Date: Apr 28, 2020
• Deposit Date: Apr 16, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 16, 2020
• Journal: Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
• Print ISSN: 0953-4075
• Electronic ISSN: 1361-6455
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 53
• Issue: 8
• Article Number: 084005
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6455/ab728f