Fast and quasideterministic single ion source from a dipole-blockaded atomic ensemble

Ates, C.; Lesanovsky, I.; Adams, C.S.; Weatherill, K.J.

Abstract

We present a fast and quasideterministic protocol for the production of single ions and electrons from a cloud of laser-cooled atoms. The approach is based on a two-step process where first a single Rydberg atom is photoexcited from a dipole-blockade configuration and subsequently ionized by an electric field pulse. We theoretically describe these excitation-ionization cycles via dynamical quantum maps and observe a rich behavior of the ionization dynamics as a function of laser Rabi frequency, pulse duration, and particle number. Our results show that a fast sequential heralded production of single charged particles is achievable even from an unstructured and fluctuating atomic ensemble.

Citation

Ates, C., Lesanovsky, I., Adams, C., & Weatherill, K. (2013). Fast and quasideterministic single ion source from a dipole-blockaded atomic ensemble. Physical Review Letters, 110(21), Article 213003. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.110.213003

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: May 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: May 21, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 23, 2013
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Print ISSN: 0031-9007
• Electronic ISSN: 1079-7114
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 110
• Issue: 21
• Article Number: 213003
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.110.213003