English

Photon correlation transients in a weakly blockaded Rydberg ensemble

Atomic Physics 2020-02-14 v2

Abstract

The non-linear 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±0.04g^{(2)}=0.79\pm 0.04, the Rydberg-dressed flash exhibits anti-bunching down to 0.2±0.040.2\pm0.04.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1910.13155,
  title  = {Photon correlation transients in a weakly blockaded Rydberg ensemble},
  author = {Charles Möhl and Nicholas L. R. Spong and Yuechun Jiao and Chloe So and Teodora Ilieva and Matthias Weidemüller and Charles S. Adams},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1910.13155},
  year   = {2020}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T11:58:07.167Z