Jul 17 – 22, 2022
Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto
America/Toronto timezone

Switching a monolayer atomic mirror using a single Rydberg atom

Jul 19, 2022, 5:00 PM
1h 30m
Hart House (Hart House)

Hart House

Hart House

7 Hart House Cir, Toronto, ON M5S 3H3
Poster presentation Quantum optics and hybrid quantum systems Poster session

Description

Understanding and tuning light-matter interactions at the level of single quanta is essential for numerous applications in quantum science. Such quantum control seeks to increase the small interaction cross section between single atoms and single photons. Exploiting cooperative response of subwavelength atomic arrays allows for realizing strong light-matter coupling even down to the level of single photons. Here, we control the optical response of an atomically thin mirror using a single ancilla atom excited to a Rydberg state, that is, we use a single atom to control light at the single-photon level. The switching behavior is controlled by admixing a small Rydberg amplitude to the atomic mirror and therefore inducing strong dipolar Rydberg interactions with the ancilla. Driving coherent excitations of the ancilla atom, we demonstrate coherent control over the degree of transmission and reflection. Finally, increasing the mirror size directly reveals a spatial effective “switching” area around the ancilla. Our results pave the way towards novel quantum metasurfaces, the creation of controlled atom-photon entanglement and deterministically engineering quantum states of light.

Presenter name Kritsana Srakaew
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Primary authors

Kritsana Srakaew (Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics) Dr Pascal Weckesser (Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics) Dr Simon Hollerith (Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics) Mr David Wei (Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics) Mr Daniel Adler (Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics) Prof. Immanuel Bloch (Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics) Dr Johannes Zeiher (Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics)

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