Storage and Control of Optical Photons Using Rydberg Polaritons

Maxwell, D.; Szwer, D.J.; Paredes-Barato, D.; Busche, H.; Pritchard, J.D.; Gauguet, A.; Weatherill, K.J.; Jones, M.P.A.; Adams, C.S.

Abstract

We use a microwave field to control the quantum state of optical photons stored in a cold atomic cloud. The photons are stored in highly excited collective states (Rydberg polaritons) enabling both fast qubit rotations and control of photon-photon interactions. Through the collective read-out of these pseudospin rotations it is shown that the microwave field modifies the long-range interactions between polaritons. This technique provides a powerful interface between the microwave and optical domains, with applications in quantum simulations of spin liquids, quantum metrology and quantum networks.

Citation

Maxwell, D., Szwer, D., Paredes-Barato, D., Busche, H., Pritchard, J., Gauguet, A., …Adams, C. (2013). Storage and Control of Optical Photons Using Rydberg Polaritons. Physical Review Letters, 110(10), Article 103001. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.110.103001

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Mar 4, 2013
• Publication Date: Mar 4, 2013
• Deposit Date: Mar 5, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 24, 2013
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Print ISSN: 0031-9007
• Electronic ISSN: 1079-7114
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 110
• Issue: 10
• Article Number: 103001
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.110.103001
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1467180