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Nature Communications

Borromean three-body FRET in frozen Rydberg gases

Raffaele Faoro, Bruno Pelle, Alexandre Zuliani, Patrick Cheinet, E. Arimondo, P. Pillet

Published Sep 8, 2015• 41 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Controlling the interactions between ultracold atoms is crucial for quantum simulation and computation purposes. Highly excited Rydberg atoms are considered in this prospect for their strong and controllable interactions known in the dipole-dipole case to induce non-radiative energy transfers between atom pairs, similarly to fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) in biological systems. Here we predict few-body FRET processes in Rydberg atoms and observe the first three-body resonance energy transfer in cold Rydberg atoms using cold caesium atoms. In these resonances, additional relay atoms carry away an energy excess preventing the two-body resonance, leading thus to a Borromean type of energy transfer. These few-body processes present strong similarities with multistep FRET between chromophores sometimes called donor-bridge-acceptor or superexchange. Most importantly, they generalize to any Rydberg atom and could lead to new implementations of few-body quantum gates or entanglement.

DOI
10.1038/ncomms9173

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Controlling the interactions between ultracold atoms is crucial for quantum simulation and computation purposes. Highly excited Rydberg atoms are considered in this prospect for their strong and controllable interactions known in the dipole-dipole case to induce non-radiative energy transfers between atom pairs, similarly to fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) in biological systems. Here we predict few-body FRET processes in Rydberg atoms and observe the first three-body resonance energy transfer in cold Rydberg atoms using cold caesium atoms. In these resonances, additional relay atoms carry away an energy excess preventing the two-body resonance, leading thus to a Borromean type of energy transfer. These few-body processes present strong similarities with multistep FRET between chromophores sometimes called donor-bridge-acceptor or superexchange. Most importantly, they generalize to any Rydberg atom and could lead to new implementations of few-body quantum gates or entanglement.
Three-body Förster resonances at long-range interactions of Rydberg atoms were first predicted and observed in Cs Rydberg atoms by Faoro et al. [Nat. Commun. 6, 8173 (2015)NCAOBW2041-172310.1038/ncomms9173]. In these resonances, one of the atoms carries away an energy excess preventing the two-body resonance, leading thus to a Borromean type of Förster energy transfer. But they were in fact observed as the average signal for the large number of atoms N≫1. In this Letter, we report on the first experimental observation of the three-body Förster resonances 3×nP_{3/2}(|M|)→nS_{1/2}+(n+1)S_{1/2}+nP_{3/2}(|M^{*}|) in a few Rb Rydberg atoms with n=36, 37. We have found here clear evidence that there is no signature of the three-body Förster resonance for exactly two interacting Rydberg atoms, while it is present for N=3-5 atoms. This demonstrates the assumption that three-body resonances can generalize to any Rydberg atom. As such resonance represents an effective three-body operator, it can be used to directly control the three-body interactions in quantum simulations and quantum information processing with Rydberg atoms.
Cold Rydberg atoms are known to display dipole-dipole interaction-allowed resonances, also called F\"orster resonances, which lead to an efficient energy transfer when the proper electric field is used. This electric field also enables resonances, which do not respect the dipole-dipole selection rules under zero field. A few of these quasiforbidden resonances have been observed but they are often overlooked. Here we show that in cold 133Cs^{133}\mathrm{Cs}133Cs atoms there is a large number of these resonances that display a significant transfer efficiency due to their strong interactions, even at low electric field. We also develop a graphical method enabling us to find all possible resonances simultaneously. The resulting dramatic increase in the total number of addressable resonant energy transfers at different electric fields could have implications in the search for few-body interactions or macromolecules built from Rydberg atoms.
Application of few-body Förster resonances for implementation of multiqubit quantum gate circuits has been investigated. New types of three-atom Borromean transitions based on the relay atom have been proposed and numerically studied. In particular, a Stark-controlled non-isolated three-atom Förster resonance between high-lying n = 80, 81, 82 S − P states of Rb atoms isolated in individual optical traps has been modeled. Isolated three-atom Förster resonance has also been demonstrated for n = 70, 71 states of Rb atoms. The resonances were investigated in a fixed spatial configuration, allowing us to demonstrate the coherent population and phase dynamics of the collective states involved. Three-qubit Toffoli gates schemes have been developed and numerically modeled based on the demonstrated resonances. Also, a generalized doubly controlled phase CCPHASE gate scheme has been developed based on the radiofrequency-induced three-body Förster resonance. Additionally, a similar quantum gate scheme has been proposed based on two-atom RF-induced Förster resonance with controlled displacement. The fast performance and high fidelity of the proposed schemes, as well as their potential robustness to errors, allow us to expect a successful experimental implementation in the near future.
Cold Rydberg atoms subject to long-range dipole-dipole interactions represent a particularly interesting system for exploring few-body interactions and probing the transition from 2-body physics to the many-body regime. In this work we report the direct observation of a resonant 4-body Rydberg interaction. We exploit the occurrence of an accidental quasicoincidence of a 2-body and a 4-body resonant Stark-tuned Förster process in cesium to observe a resonant energy transfer requiring the simultaneous interaction of at least four neighboring atoms. These results are relevant for the implementation of quantum gates with Rydberg atoms and for further studies of many-body physics.
We have observed recently the Stark-tuned three-body F\"orster resonances $3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}n{P}_{3/2}(|M|)\ensuremath{\rightarrow}n{S}_{1/2}+(n+1){S}_{1/2}+n{P}_{3/2}(|{M}^{*}|)$ at long-range interactions of a few cold Rb Rydberg atoms [D. B. Tretyakov et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 173402 (2017)]. The three-body resonance appears at a different dc electric field with respect to the ordinary two-body resonance $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}n{P}_{3/2}(|M|)\ensuremath{\rightarrow}n{S}_{1/2}+(n+1){S}_{1/2}$ and corresponds to a transition when the three interacting atoms change their states simultaneously (two atoms go to the SSS states, and the third atom remains in the PPP state but changes its moment projection), with the negligible contribution of the two-body resonance to the population transfer. It thus has a Borromean character and represents an effective three-body operator, which can be used to directly control the three-body interactions in quantum simulations and quantum gates implemented with Rydberg atoms. In this paper we theoretically investigate the coherence of such three-body resonances and we show that high-contrast Rabi-like population oscillations are possible for the localized Rydberg atoms in a certain spatial configuration. This paves the way to implementing three-qubit quantum gates and quantum simulations based on three-body Rydberg interactions.
Previous resonant dipole-dipole energy-transfer experiments of cold Rydberg gases [Anderson et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 249 (1998); Mourachko et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 253 (1998)] have been interpreted as providing evidence of many-body, as opposed to purely binary, effects. Here we separate two-body and many-body interactions by introducing an additional Rydberg state, which does not participate directly in the energy-transfer process, but is strongly coupled to one of the final states. We observe broadening of the energy-transfer resonances due to this added Rydberg state, which clearly demonstrates the many-body nature of the dipole-dipole interactions in such a system.