Project Details
Projekt
Interacting Stationary Rydberg Polaritons in Two Dimensions
Subject Area
Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
Term
from 2016 to 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 316214921
Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) involving highlyexcited Rydberg states has become a powerful technique to mediatestrong synthetic interactions between single photons in an atomicmedium. Based upon our experimental and theoretical findings on thenature of the nonlinear, non-local susceptibility under Rydberg-EITconditions during the first funding period of the SPP GiRyd, wepropose to extend our investigations to stationary ground-statepolaritons which acquire interactions through a novel Rydbergdressingscheme. This approach will allow us to study the photondynamics in the two-dimensional geometry transverse to the lightpropagation, and thereby open the door to many-body phenomena byaccommodating unprecedentedly larger number of interactingphotons. Moreover, the use of stationary-light polaritons composed ofground-state excitations yields drastically improved coherenceproperties and enhanced interaction times, while the proposedRydberg-dressing scheme will provide a new level of interactioncontrol in Rydberg-EIT settings and make it possible to realizerepulsive photons for the first time in experiments. The proposedproject thus provides unique opportunities for the exploration of nonequilibriummany-body quantum dynamics and the emergence ofexotic quantum states of light, both in theory and experiment.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
Subproject of
SPP 1929:
Giant Interactions in Rydberg Systems (GiRyd)
International Connection
Denmark
