SIQS

Homodyne Tomography of a Single Photon Retrieved on Demand from a Cavity-Enhanced Cold Atom Memory

Tue, 2014-06-03 15:23 - Michel Brune

Date:

2014-01-21

Author(s):

Erwan Bimbard, Rajiv Boddeda, Nicolas Vitrant, Andrey Grankin, Valentina Parigi, Jovica Stanojevic, Alexei Ourjoumtsev, and Philippe Grangier

Reference:

Bimbard, R. Boddeda, N. Vitrant, A. Grankin, V. Parigi, J. Stanojevic, A. Ourjoumtsev, P. Grangier, Homodyne Tomography of a Single Photon Retrieved on Demand from a Cavity-Enhanced Cold Atom Memory, PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 112:3, 033601 (2014)
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.033601

URL:

http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.033601

We experimentally demonstrate that a nonclassical state prepared in an atomic memory can be efficiently transferred to a single mode of free-propagating light. By retrieving on demand a single excitation from a cold atomic gas, we realize an efficient source of single photons prepared in a pure, fully controlled quantum state. We characterize this source using two detection methods, one based on photon-counting analysis and the second using homodyne tomography to reconstruct the density matrix and Wigner function of the state.

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Dispersive optical nonlinearities in a Rydberg electromagnetically-induced-transparency medium

Tue, 2014-06-03 15:16 - Michel Brune

Date:

2013-11-26

Author(s):

Jovica Stanojevic, Valentina Parigi, Erwan Bimbard, Alexei Ourjoumtsev, and Philippe Grangier

Reference:

J. Stanojevic, V. Parigi, E. Bimbard, A. Ourjoumtsev, P. Grangier, Dispersive optical nonlinearities in a Rydberg electromagnetically-induced-transparency medium, PHYSICAL REVIEW A 88:5, 053845 (2013)
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.88.053845

URL:

http://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.88.053845

We investigate dispersive optical nonlinearities that arise from a Rydberg excitation blockade in cold Rydberg gases. We consider a two-photon transition scheme and study the nonlinear response to a weak optical probe in the presence of a strong control beam. For very low probe fields, the dominant nonlinearities are of the third order and they can be evaluated in a steady-state regime.