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Published August 2, 2012 | public
Journal Article

Quantum nonlinear optics with single photons enabled by strongly interacting atoms

Abstract

The realization of strong nonlinear interactions between individual light quanta (photons) is a long-standing goal in optical science and engineering being of both fundamental and technological significance. In conventional optical materials, the nonlinearity at light powers corresponding to single photons is negligibly weak. Here we demonstrate a medium that is nonlinear at the level of individual quanta, exhibiting strong absorption of photon pairs while remaining transparent to single photons. The quantum nonlinearity is obtained by coherently coupling slowly propagating photons to strongly interacting atomic Rydberg states in a cold, dense atomic gas. Our approach paves the way for quantum-by-quantum control of light fields, including single-photon switching, all-optical deterministic quantum logic and the realization of strongly correlated many-body states of light.

Additional Information

© 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. Received 28 May 2012. Accepted 28 June 2012. Published online 25 July 2012. We acknowledge technical support from A. Mazurenko. This work was supported in part by NSF, CUA and the AFOSR Quantum Memories MURI. A.V.G. acknowledges funding from the Lee A. DuBridge Foundation and the IQIM, an NSF Physics Frontiers Center with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Author Contributions: The experiment was designed and built by S.H., T. Peyronel and Q.-Y.L. Measurements and analysis of the data presented were carried out by T. Peyronel, O.F. and Q.-Y.L. The theoretical analysis was performed by A.V.G. and T. Pohl. All experimental and theoretical work was supervised by M.D.L. and V.V. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the manuscript.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023