Search

We report an experimental demonstration of optical 2DCS in cold atoms. The experiment integrates a collinear 2DCS setup with a magneto-optical trap (MOT), in which cold rubidium (Rb) atoms are prepared at a temperature of about 200 $\mu$K and a number density of $10^{10}$ cm$^{-3}$. With a sequence of femtosecond laser pulses, we first obtained one-dimensional second- and fourth-order nonlinear signals and then acquired both one-quantum and zero-quantum 2D spectra of cold Rb atoms. The capability of performing optical 2DCS in cold atoms is an important step toward optical 2DCS study of many-body physics in cold atoms and ultimately in atom arrays and trapped ions. Optical 2DCS in cold atoms/molecules can also be a new avenue to probe chemical reaction dynamics in cold molecules., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Collective resonance of interacting particles has important implications in many-body quantum systems and their applications. Strong interactions can lead to a blockade that prohibits the excitation of a collective resonance of two or more nearby atoms. However, a collective resonance can be excited with the presence of weak interaction and has been observed for atoms in the first excited state ($P$ states). Here, we report the observation of collective resonance of rubidium atoms in a higher excited state ($D$ states) in addition to the first excited state. The collective resonance is excited by a double-quantum four-pulse excitation sequence. The resulting double-quantum two-dimensional (2D) spectrum displays well-isolated peaks that can be attributed to collective resonances of atoms in $P$ and $D$ states. The experimental one-quantum and double-quantum 2D spectra can be reproduced by a simulation based on the perturbative solutions to the optical Bloch equations, confirming collective resonances as the origin of the measured spectra. The experimental technique provides a new approach for preparing and probing collective resonances of atoms in highly excited states., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures

We investigate the transmission spectrum of an optical cavity coupled with four-level atoms. Multiple normal-mode splitting peaks of the strongly coupled atom-cavity system are obtained as single cavity mode couples three separated atomic transitions simultaneously. We employ a confocal optical cavity and an ensemble of cold Rb-85 atoms for cavity quantum electrodynamics. We observe four normal-mode splitting peaks of the cavity transmission in the strong coupling regime due to collective enhancement of the atom-cavity coupling strength by ensemble of cold atoms. The experimental observations are consistent with the theoretical analysis. The multiple normal-mode excitation in the strongly coupled multi-level atom-cavity system may lead to practical application for realizing multi-channel all-optical devices., Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures

Optical double-quantum two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy (2DCS) was implemented to probe interatomic dipole-dipole interactions in both potassium and rubidium atomic vapors. The dipole-dipole interaction was detected at densities of $4.81 \times 10^8$ cm$^{-3}$ and $8.40 \times 10^9$ cm$^{-3}$ for potassium and rubidium, respectively, corresponding to a mean interatomic separation of 15.8 $\mu$m or $3.0\times 10^5a_0$ for potassium and 6.1 $\mu$m or $1.2\times 10^5a_0$ for rubidium, where $a_0$ is the Bohr radius. We report the lowest atomic density at which dipole-dipole interactions are detected. The experimental results confirm the long range nature of the dipole-dipole interaction which is critical for understanding many-body physics in atoms/molecules. The long range interaction also has implications in atom-based applications involving many-body interactions. Additionally, we demonstrated that double-quantum 2DCS is sufficiently sensitive to probe dipole-dipole interaction at densities that can be achieved with cold atom in a magneto-optical trap, paving the way for double-quantum 2DCS studies of cold atoms and molecules. The method can also open a new avenue to study long-range interactions in solid states systems such as quantum dots and color centers in diamonds., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Dicke state, a coherent state of multiple particles, is fundamentally responsible for various intriguing collective behaviors of many-body systems. Experimental access to Dicke states with a scalable and deterministic number of particles is essential to study how many-body properties depend on the particle number. We report the observation of Dicke states consisting of two, three, four, five, six, and seven atoms in an atomic vapor. Quantum coherences between the ground state and multi-atom states are created and detected by using optical two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy. The signal originated from multi-atom states is manifested as correlation between the multi-quantum coherence and the emission signal, providing direct and unambiguous detection of Dicke states. The manipulation of deterministic atomic Dicke states has possible implications in quantum information processing and fundamental many-body physics., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures

We propose and analyze a scheme for controlling coherent photon transmission and reflection in a cavity-quantum-electrodynamics (CQED) system consisting of an optical resonator coupled with three-level atoms coherently prepared by a control laser from free space. When the control laser is off and the cavity is excited by two identical light fields from two ends of the cavity, the two input light fields can be completely absorbed by the CQED system and the light energy is converted into the excitation of the polariton states, but no light can escape from the cavity. Two distinct cases of controlling the perfect photon absorption are analyzed: (a) when the control laser is tuned to the atomic resonance and creates electromagnetically induced transparency, the prefect photon absorption is suppressed and the input light fields are nearly completely transmitted through the cavity; (b) when the control laser is tuned to the polariton state resonance and inhibits the polariton state excitation, the perfect photon absorption is again suppressed and the input light fields are nearly completely reflected from the cavity. Thus, the CQED system can act as a perfect absorber or near perfect transmitter/reflector by simply turning off or on of the control laser. Such interference control of the coherent photon-atom interaction in the CQED system should be useful for a variety of applications in optical logical devices., Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures

It has been shown that perfect photon absorption can occur in the linear excitation regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED), in which photons from two identical light fields coupled into two ends of the cavity are completely absorbed and result in excitation of the polariton state of the CQED system. The output light from the cavity is totally suppressed by the destructive interference and the polariton state can only decay incoherently back to the ground state. Here we analyze the perfect photon absorption and onset of optical bistability in the nonlinear regime of the CQED and show that the perfect photon absorption persists in the nonlinear regime of the CQED below the threshold of the optical bistability. Therefore the perfect photon absorption is a phenomenon that can be observed in both linear and nonlinear regimes of CQED. Furthermore, our study reveals for the first time that the optical bistability is influenced by the input-light interference and can be manipulated by varying the relative phase of the two input fields., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures

We propose a method to study the quantum nonlinearity and observe the multiphoton transitions in a multiatom CQED system. We show that by inducing simultaneously destructive quantum interference for the single-photon and two-photon excitations in the CQED system, it is possible to observe the direct three-photon excitation of the higher-order ladder states of the CQED system. We report an experiment with cold Rb atoms confined in an optical cavity and demonstrate such interference control of the multi-photon excitations of the CQED system. The observed nonlinear excitation of the CQED ladder states agrees with a theoretical analysis based on a fully quantized treatment of the CQED system, but disagrees with the semiclassical analysis of the CQED system. Thus it represents the first direct observation of the quantum nature of the multiatom CQED system and opens new ways to explore quantum nonlinearity and its applications in quantum optical systems in which multiple absorbers/emitters are coupled with photons in confined cavity structures., Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures

We propose and analyze a scheme for photon trapping in an optical resonator coupled with two-level atoms. We show that when the cavity is excited by two identical light fields from two ends of the cavity respectively, the output light from the cavity is suppressed while the intra-cavity light field is near the maximum due to the excitation of the polariton state of the coupled cavity and atom system. We also present methods for the direct probing of the trapped polariton state. The photon trapping is manifested by the destructive interference of the transmitted light and the incident light. Such photon trapping is quite generic and should be observable experimentally in a variety of cavity quantum electrodynamics systems., Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures

We show that by manipulating quantum interference in a multi-atom cavity QED system, the nonlinear excitation of the cavity-atom polariton can be resonantly enhanced while the linear excitation is suppressed. Under appropriate conditions, it is possible to selectively enhance or suppress the polariton excitation with two free-pace laser fields. We report an experiment with cold Rb atoms in an optical cavity and present experimental results that demonstrate such interference control of the cavity QED excitation and its direct applications for studies of all-optical switching and cross-phase modulation of the cavity transmitted light., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures

We propose a scheme of the interaction-free all-optical switching in a multi-atom cavity QED system consisting of three-level atoms confined in a cavity and coupled by a free-space control laser. A signal laser field is coupled into the cavity and its transmission through and reflection from the cavity form two output channels. We show that the free-space control laser induces destructive quantum interference in the excitation of the intra-cavity normal mode, which can be used to switch on or off of the output signal light of the reflection and the transmission channels. When the control light is coupled to the atoms, the input signal light is nearly totally reflected and this means that there is no direct coupling of the control light and the signal light through the cavity-confined atoms. We present analytical and numerical calculations that show this type of the interaction-free all-optical switching in the coupled cavity-atom system can be realized with high switching efficiencies and at low light intensities., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures

Cavity electromagnetically induced transparency in a coherently prepared cavity-atom system is manifested as a narrow transmission peak of a weak probe laser coupled into the cavity mode. We show that with a resonant pump laser coupling the cavity-confined four-level atoms from free space, the narrow transmission peak of the cavity EIT is split into two peaks. The two peaks represent the dressed intra-cavity dark states and have a frequency separation approximately equal to the Rabi frequency of the free-space pump laser. We observed experimentally the dressed intra-cavity dark states in cold Rb atoms confined in a cavity and the experimental results agree with theoretical calculations based on a semiclassical analysis., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures

I analyze an all-optical switching scheme in a cavity QED system consisting of multiple three-level atoms confined in a cavity mode. A control laser coupled to the atoms from free space induces quantum interference in the coupled cavity-atom system and performs all optical switching of the cavity-atom polaritons. When the cavity is tuned far away from the atomic resonance, the cavity-atom polariton consists of nearly pure photonic excitation and then the scheme can be used for photon switching at low light intensities., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures

I analyze a scheme that is capable of producing large Kerr nonlinearities on cavity-atom polaritons in a cavity QED system consisting of multiple three-level atoms confined in a cavity mode. A weak control laser coupled to the atoms from free space induces destructive quantum interference in the polariton excitation of the coupled cavity-atom system and creates large Kerr nonlinearities on the intra-cavity light field. The scheme can be used for optical switching or cross-phase modulation of the cavity-atom polariton at ultra-low light levels, which may be useful for applications in quantum state manipulation in cavity QED, quantum measurements, and quantum logic gates., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures

We report experimental measurements of the transmission spectrum of an optical cavity coupled with cold Rb atoms. We observe the multi-atom vacuum Rabi splitting of a composite cavity and atom system. When a coupling field is applied to the atoms and induces the resonant two-photon Raman transition with the cavity field in a Lamda-type three-level system, we observe a cavity transmission spectrum with two vacuum Rabi sidebands and a central peak representing the intracavity dark state. The central peak linewidth is significantly narrowed by the dark-state resonance and its position is insensitive to the frequency change of the empty cavity., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

We report experimental observations of interference between three-photon and one-photon excitations, and phase control of light attenuation/transmission in a four-level system. Either constructive interference or destructive interference can be obtained by varying the phase and/or frequency of a weak control laser. The interference enables absorptive switching of one field by another field at different frequencies and ultra-low light levels., Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures

We report an experimental investigation of electromagnetically induced transparency in a multi-level cascade system of cold atoms. The absorption spectral profiles of the probe light in the multi-level cascade system were observed in cold Rb-85 atoms confined in a magneto-optical trap, and the dependence of the spectral profile on the intensity of the coupling laser was investigated. The experimental measurements agree with the theoretical calculations based on the density matrix equations of the rubidium cascade system., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

In a three-level atomic system coupled by two equal-amplitude laser fields with a frequency separation 2$\delta$, a weak probe field exhibits a multiple-peaked absorption spectrum with a constant peak separation $\delta$. The corresponding probe dispersion exhibits steep normal dispersion near the minimum absorption between the multiple absorption peaks, which leads to simultaneous slow group velocities for probe photons at multiple frequencies separated by $\delta$. We report an experimental study in such a bichromatically coupled three-level $\Lambda$ system in cold $^{87}$Rb atoms. The multiple-peaked probe absorption spectra under various experimental conditions have been observed and compared with the theoretical calculations., Comment: RevTex, 4 pages, 6 figures, Email address: wangjin@wipm.ac.cn

We report an experimental demonstration of photon switching by quantum interference in a four-level atomic system proposed by Harris and Yamamoto (Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 3611 (1998)). Quantum interference inhibits single-photon absorption but enhances third-order, two-photon type absorption in the four-level system. We have observed greatly enhanced nonlinear absorption in the four-level system realized with cold 87Rb atoms and demonstrated fast switching of the nonlinear absorption with a pulsed pump laser., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures