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Photons interacting with Rydberg super atoms

Summary

In this project, we study the interaction of propagating photons with small atomic clouds giving rise to so-called Rydberg superatoms. The main idea is, that the photons couple the atomic ground state to a highly excited Rydberg state either in a setup with electromagnetically induced transparency or in the regime, where an intermediate p-level can be adiabatically eliminated. The strong interaction between the Rydberg atoms leads to the blockade phenomenon, which suppresses the second excitation of a Rydberg state in an atomic cloud smaller than the blockade radius. The blockaded ensemble then collectively acts as a single quantum emitter strongly coupled to the probing light.

The main focus of this collaboration between the experimental group of Prof. S. Hofferberth and the theoretical group of Prof. H.P. Büchler is on the quantum phenomena induced by such superatoms and their potential application for quantum information processing.

Principal Investigators

Hans Peter Büchler, Universitaet Stuttgart
Sebastian Hofferberth, University of Southern Denmark


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