Large Cross-Phase Modulations at the Few-Photon Level


Abstract in English

We demonstrate an efficient cross-phase modulation (XPM) based on a closed-loop double-{Lambda} system. The property of the double-{Lambda} medium can be controlled by changing the phases of the applied optical fields. This phase-dependent XPM scheme can achieve large phase modulations at low-light intensities without requiring cavities or tightly focusing of laser beams. With this scheme, we observe a {pi}-level phase shift with two pulses both consisting of 8 photons in cold rubidium atoms. Such novel scheme provides a simple route to generate strong interactions between photons and may have potential applications in all-optical quantum signal processing.

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