Strongly interacting photons in hollow-core waveguides

Journal Article · Tue Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.83.033806· OSTI ID:21541363

Shahmoon, Ephraim; Kurizki, Gershon ^[1]; Fleischhauer, Michael ^[2]; Petrosyan, David ^[2]

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1. Department of Chemical Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100 (Israel)
2. Department of Physics and Research Center OPTIMAS, Technische Universitaet Kaiserslautern, DE-67663 Kaiserslautern (Germany)

Hollow-core photonic-crystal waveguides filled with cold atoms can support giant optical nonlinearities through nondispersive propagation of light tightly confined in the transverse direction. Here we explore electromagnetically induced transparency is such structures, considering a pair of counterpropagating weak quantum fields in the medium of coherently driven atoms in the ladder configuration. Strong dipole-dipole interactions between optically excited, polarized Rydberg states of the atoms translate into a large dispersive interaction between the two fields. This can be used to attain a spatially homogeneous conditional phase shift of {pi} for two single-photon pulses, realizing a deterministic photonic phase gate, or to implement a quantum nondemolition measurement of the photon number in the signal pulse by a coherent probe, thereby achieving a heralded source of single- or few-photon pulses.

• OSTI ID: 21541363
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 83, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.033806; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ATOMS
CRYSTALS
DIPOLES
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PHASE SHIFT
PHOTONS
PROBES
PULSES
RYDBERG STATES
STRONG INTERACTIONS
WAVEGUIDES
BASIC INTERACTIONS
BOSONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY LEVELS
EXCITED STATES
INTERACTIONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MULTIPOLES