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Strong photon-photon interactions

Vladan Vuletić, Thibault Peyronel, Ofer Firstenberg, Qiyu Liang, Mikhail D. Lukin, Wenlan Chen, Kristin M. Beck

Published Jan 1, 2014• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Standard nonlinear optical materials exhibit negligible nonlinearity at the level of individual photons. We discuss two methods to generate strong photon-photon interactions using either atom-cavity coupling, or strong interactions between atoms in Rydberg states. In particular, we have demonstrated an all-optical transistor gated by one stored photon, and a bound state of two photons.

DOI
10.1364/cleo_qels.2014.fth1b.1

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Standard nonlinear optical materials exhibit negligible nonlinearity at the level of individual photons. We discuss two methods to generate strong photon-photon interactions using either atom-cavity coupling, or strong interactions between atoms in Rydberg states. In particular, we have demonstrated an all-optical transistor gated by one stored photon, and a bound state of two photons.
The realization of strong nonlinear interactions between individual light quanta (photons) is a long-standing goal in optical science and engineering, being of both fundamental and technological significance. We describe and demonstrate a medium that is nonlinear at the level of individual quanta, exhibiting strong absorption and phase shift for photon pairs while remaining transparent to single photons. The quantum nonlinearity is obtained by coherently coupling slowly propagating photons to strongly interacting atomic Rydberg states in a cold, dense atomic gas. Finally, we will discuss our progress towards realization of integrated quantum photonic systems, based on deterministic coupling of individual atoms and atom-like systems to photonic crystal cavities.
Rydberg atoms have emerged as a versatile platform for quantum optics due to their exaggerated properties, particularly their strong long-range interactions, which enable a new regime of light-matter interaction. By mapping the interactions between Rydberg atoms onto photons, effective photon-photon interactions can be realized at the single-photon level, thereby overcoming the intrinsic weakness of conventional optical nonlinearities. In this review, we first introduce the fundamental physical principles of Rydberg-mediated quantum optics, and then discuss some key developments, including single-photon engineering, photonic quantum gates, contactless nonlinear optics, and quantum entanglement, providing a comprehensive overview of the current state and prospects of this rapidly developing field.
The generation of correlated photons typically requires a highly nonlinear medium that is strongly coupled to an optical mode. Recently, significant advances have been made in this direction by strongly coupling photons to quantum emitters and exploiting the inherently nonlinear response of the latter. A number of methods have been pursued for this purpose, employing, e.g., high finesse optical cavities or strongly interacting Rydberg atoms. However, the implementation of strong and low-loss photon-photon interactions remains a challenging goal.