Breaking the Dipole Blockade: Nearly Resonant Dipole Interactions in Few-Atom Systems

Journal Article · Fri Jan 09 00:00:00 EST 2009 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.102.013004· OSTI ID:21180097

Pohl, T ^[1]; Berman, P R ^[2]

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1. ITAMP, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 (United States)
2. FOCUS Center, Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States)

A dipole blockade, in which Rydberg-atom-Rydberg-atom interactions inhibit all but a single collective Rydberg excitation, has been proposed as a mechanism to store and manipulate quantum information in mesoscopic ensembles. We investigate the excitation dynamics of a collection of a few atoms and show that they undergo an unexpected, qualitative change when the number of atoms increases from two to three. In particular, the combined action of three atoms, each of which pairwise would produce a blockade, can break the dipole blockade.

• OSTI ID: 21180097
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.013004; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ATOMS
DIPOLES
EXCITATION
QUANTUM INFORMATION
QUANTUM MECHANICS