A deterministic photon-photon quantum-logic gate is a long-standing goal. Building such a gate becomes possible if a light pulse containing only one photon imprints a phase shift of π onto another light field. Here we experimentally demonstrate the generation of such a π phase shift with a single-photon pulse. A first light pulse containing less than one photon on average is stored in an atomic gas. Rydberg blockade combined with electromagnetically induced transparency creates a phase shift for a second light pulse which propagates through the medium. Postselected on the detection of a retrieved photon from the first pulse, we measure a π phase shift of the second pulse. This demonstrates a crucial step toward a photon-photon gate and offers a variety of applications in the field of quantum information processing.
@article{arxiv.1512.05740,
title = {Optical $\pi$ Phase Shift Created with a Single-Photon Pulse},
author = {Daniel Tiarks and Steffen Schmidt and Gerhard Rempe and Stephan Dürr},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1512.05740},
year = {2016}
}