No Arabic abstract
A method for diffracting the weak probe beam into unidirectional and higher-order directions is proposed via a novel Rydberg electromagnetically induced grating, providing a new way for the implementations of quantum devices with cold Rydberg atoms. The proposed scheme utilizes a suitable and position-dependent adjustment to the two-photon detuning besides the modulation of the standing-wave coupling field, bringing a in-phase modulation which can change the parity of the dispersion. We observe that when the modulation amplitude is appropriate, a perfect unidirectional diffraction grating can be realized. In addition, due to the mutual effect between the van der Waals (vdWs) interaction and the atom-field interaction length that deeply improves the dispersion of the medium, the probe energy can be counter-intuitively transferred into higher-order diffractions as increasing the vdWs interaction, leading to the realization of a controllable higher-order diffraction grating via strong blockade.
We investigate the transient optical response property of an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a cold Rydberg atomic gas. We show that both the transient behavior and the steady-state EIT spectrum of the system depend strongly on Rydberg interaction. Especially, the response speed of the Rydberg-EIT can be five-times faster (and even higher) than the conventional EIT without the Rydberg interaction. For comparison, two different theoretical approaches (i.e. two-atom model and many-atom model) are considered, revealing that Rydberg blockade effect plays a significant role for increasing the response speed of the Rydberg-EIT. The fast-responding Rydberg-EIT by using the strong, tunable Rydberg interaction uncovered here is not only helpful for enhancing the understanding of the many-body dynamics of Rydberg atoms but also useful for practical applications in quantum information processing by using Rydberg atoms.
For tunable control of asymmetric light reflection, we propose a Rydberg atomic system of the optical response varying in space induced by the long-range position-dependent Rydberg dipole-dipole interaction either in the type of self-van der Waals dipole-dipole interaction or the cross F{o}rster-like dipole-dipole exchange interaction. In such a one-dimensional system consisting of a control atomic driven upon the Rydberg state and a homogeneous target atomic ensemble, the non-localized action from the control atom on the target atoms gradually decreases with the distance between the control and target atoms. Our scheme yields a nonlinear correspondence from a finite spectra range to a finite spatial range of susceptibility via the nonlinear characteristics of Rydberg interaction relative to the position. Therefore, the asymmetric reflection can be induced via the spatial modulation on the target ensemble. In particular, the reflection from one direction can be completely suppressed when the absorption and dispersion parts of the susceptibility are modulated to satisfy the spatial Kramers-Kronig relation in an infinite spectral range. The opposite reflection exhibits a band of a small nonzero reflectivity due to the realistic restriction of the cold atomic density of a relatively small value. Thus, via trapping the target atoms in the optical lattice for the Bragg scattering, we enhance the nonzero reflection obviously and retain the directional reflectionlessness.
We propose to shape biphoton wave packets with an electromagnetically induced grating in a four-level double-$Lambda$ cold atomic system. We show that the induced hybrid grating plays an essential role in directing the new fields into different angular positions, especially to the zeroth-order diffraction. A number of interesting features appear in the shaped two-photon waveforms. For example, broadening or narrowing the spectrum would be possible in the proposed scheme even without the use of a cavity.
We have studied the optical properties of gratings micro-fabricated into semiconductor wafers, which can be used for simplifying cold-atom experiments. The study entailed characterisation of diffraction efficiency as a function of coating, periodicity, duty cycle and geometry using over 100 distinct gratings. The critical parameters of experimental use, such as diffraction angle and wavelength are also discussed, with an outlook to achieving optimal ultracold experimental conditions.
We report on the observation of emerging beam resonances, well known as Rayleigh-Wood anomalies and threshold resonances in photon and electron diffraction, respectively, in an atom-optical diffraction experiment. Diffraction of He atom beams reflected from a blazed ruled grating at grazing incidence has been investigated. The total reflectivity of the grating as well as the intensities of the diffracted beams reveal anomalies at the Rayleigh angles of incidence, i.e., when another diffracted beam merges parallel to the grating surface. The observed anomalies are discussed in terms of the classical wave-optical model of Rayleigh and Fano.