Observation of Rabi oscillation of light assisted by atomic spin wave

TL;DR

This paper reports the observation of Rabi-like oscillations in light conversion mediated by atomic spin waves, demonstrating high efficiency and potential applications in quantum information processing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel observation of Rabi oscillations in a Raman process driven by atomic spin waves, linking oscillation frequency to spin wave strength.

Findings

Rabi-like oscillations observed in Raman conversion

Conversion efficiency reaches 40% and is input-independent

Potential applications in quantum information science

Abstract

Coherent conversion between a Raman pump field and its Stokes field is observed in a Raman process with a strong atomic spin wave initially prepared by another Raman process operated in the stimulated emission regime. The oscillatory behavior resembles the Rabi oscillation in atomic population in a two-level atomic system driven by a strong light field. The Rabi-like oscillation frequency is found to be related to the strength of the pre-built atomic spin wave. High conversion efficiency of 40% from the Raman pump field to the Stokes field is recorded and it is independent of the input Raman pump field. This process can act as a photon frequency multiplexer and may find wide applications in quantum information science.