Berlin 2014 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 7: Ultracold plasmas and Rydberg systems I (with A)

Q 7.6: Talk

Monday, March 17, 2014, 11:45–12:00, DO24 1.101

Single-Photon Switch Based on Rydberg Blockade — •Simon Baur, Daniel Tiarks, Gerhard Rempe, and Stephan Dürr — Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, D-85748 Garching

All-optical switching is a technique in which a gate light pulse changes the transmission of a target light pulse without the detour via electronic signal processing. We take this to the quantum regime, where the incoming gate light pulse contains only one photon on average [1]. The gate pulse is stored as a Rydberg excitation in an ultracold atomic gas using electromagnetically induced transparency. Rydberg blockade suppresses the transmission of the subsequent target pulse. Finally, the stored gate photon can be retrieved. A retrieved photon heralds successful storage. The corresponding postselected subensemble shows an extinction by a factor of 10. The single-photon switch offers many interesting perspectives ranging from quantum communication to quantum information processing.

[1] S. Baur et al., arXiv:1307.3509