Quantum statistics of light transmitted through an intracavity Rydberg medium

Andrey Grankin (1) , E. Brion (2) , Erwan Bimbard (1) , Rajiv Boddeda (1) , Imam Usmani (1) , Alexei Ourjoumtsev (1) , Philippe Grangier (1)

1 Laboratoire Charles Fabry / Optique Quantique
2 LAC - Laboratoire Aimé Cotton

We theoretically investigate the quantum statistical properties of light transmitted through an atomic medium with strong optical nonlinearity induced by Rydberg-Rydberg van der Waals interactions. In our setup, atoms are located in a cavity and nonresonantly driven on a two-photon transition from their ground state to a Rydberg level via an intermediate state by the combination of the weak signal field and a strong control beam. To characterize the transmitted light, we compute the second-order correlation function $g^{(2)}(\tau)$. The simulations we obtained on the specific case of rubidium atoms suggest that the bunched or antibunched nature of the outgoing beam can be chosen at will by tuning the physical parameters appropriately.

Keywords: quantum optics; rydberg atoms; non-classical light

Domains: Quantum Physics [quant-ph]

Andrey Grankin, E. Brion, Erwan Bimbard, Rajiv Boddeda, Imam Usmani, et al.. Quantum statistics of light transmitted through an intracavity Rydberg medium. New Journal of Physics, 2014, 16, pp.043020. ⟨10.1088/1367-2630/16/4/043020⟩. ⟨hal-01011354⟩