Hannover 2016 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 14: Ultracold Atoms, Ions and Molecules III (with Q)

A 14.2: Talk

Tuesday, March 1, 2016, 11:15–11:30, f342

Towards a single-photon source based on Rydberg FWM in thermal vapors — •Fabian Ripka, Yi-Hsin Chen, Robert Löw, and Tilman Pfau — 5. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Stuttgart

Photonic quantum devices based on atomic vapors at room temperature combine the advantages of atomic vapors being intrinsicly reproducable as well as semiconductor-based concepts being scalable and integrable. One key device in the field of quantum information are on-demand single-photon sources. A promising candidate for realization relies on the combination of two atomic effects, namely four-wave mixing (FWM) and the Rydberg blockade effect.

Coherent dynamics to Rydberg states on ns timescales [1] and sufficient Rydberg interaction strengths [2] have already been demonstated in thermal vapors. These effects could also be observed in a pulsed FWM scheme [3]. Recently, we investigated a storage-retrieval scheme by means of two pulses. We could determine the collective lifetime of the Rydberg coherence to be 1.1ns, limited by motional dephasing. Additionally, this double-pulsed FWM scheme enables an enhanced generation efficiency of output photons up to tens of photons per pulse. The goal is then to reduce this number of photons by interaction-induced suppression of the Rydberg coherence, in order to obtain non-classical photon states and even single photons per FWM cycle.

[1] Huber et al., PRL 107, 243001 (2011)

[2] Baluktsian et al., PRL 110, 123001 (2013)

[3] Huber et al., PRA 90, 053806 (2014); Chen et al., accepted by Appl. Phys. B