- please note the unusual DATE and LOCATION -
Dear colleagues,
This week we have our ITAMP lunch discussion with Prof. Tilman Pfau on TUESDAY instead of
the usual Friday.
Kind regards,
Richard Schmidt and Swati Singh
Special ITAMP Topical Lunch Discussion [on TUESDAY]
Date: TUESDAY, December 2nd
Time: 12:00-1:30 pm
Pizza will be served.
Location: Philipps Auditorium @ Center for Astrophysics (60 Garden Street)
Directions: Instead of entering via the main entrance, go to the rear of the historic
building and enter from the parking lot. The entrance is up the stairs, just across from
of the old telescope.
Speaker: Prof. Tilman Pfau, University of Stuttgart
Title: Coherent control of strongly interacting Rydberg gases in thermal vapor cells
Abstract: Rydberg atoms are of great interest due to their prospects in quantum
information processing. Coherent control of the strong Rydberg-Rydberg interaction allows
for the realization of quantum operations and devices such as quantum gates and
single-photon sources. To date, impressive experimental progress has been limited to the
ultracold domain [1]. Being able to exploit this interaction in a coherent manner in
thermal vapor would eliminate the need for cooling and trapping of atoms and thus offer
new prospects for integration and scalability.
We present our progress on the coherent control and investigation of Rydberg atoms in
small vapor cells. We show that we are able to drive Rabi oscillations on the nanosecond
timescale to a Rydberg state by using a pulsed laser excitation and are therefore faster
than the coherence time limitation given by the Doppler width [2].
A systematic investigation reveals a clear signature for a strong van der Waals
interaction between Rydberg atoms. The strength of the interaction exceeds the energy
scale of thermal motion (i.e. the Doppler broadening) and therefore enables many body
quantum physics above room temperature [3]. As an example we observe evidence for
aggregate formation of Rydberg atoms in a vapor cell [4].
Besides these many body physics phenomena also electric field sensing applications have
been demonstrated [5] and recently it was shown that coherent Rydberg excitation is also
possible in photonic crystal fibers [6].
Several applications from THz sensing to singe photon sources seem within reach.
References:
[1] M. Saffman et al., RMP 82, 2313 (2010) and references therein
[2] B. Huber et al., PRL 107, 243001 (2011)
[3] T. Baluktsian et al., PRL 110, 123001 (2013)
[4] A. Urvoy et al., arXiv:1408.0039
[5] J. Sedlacek, et al. Nature Physics 8, 819 (2012)
[6] G. Epple, et al, Nature Communications 5, 4132 (2014)
---------------------------
Dr. Richard Schmidt
Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (ITAMP)
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics MS-14
60 Garden St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
U.S.A.
richard.schmidt(a)cfa.harvard.edu
Tel. +1 (617) 496-7610
Fax +1 (617) 496-7668
---------------------------
Dr. Richard Schmidt
Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (ITAMP)
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics MS-14
60 Garden St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
U.S.A.
richard.schmidt(a)cfa.harvard.edu
Tel. +1 (617) 496-7610
Fax +1 (617) 496-7668
Show replies by date