Nonlocal Nonlinear Optics in cold Rydberg Gases

TL;DR

This paper develops an analytical theory for the nonlinear optical response of Rydberg gases under EIT conditions, revealing strong, nonlocal nonlinearities that enable novel nonlinear wave phenomena in a highly controllable platform.

Contribution

It provides simple analytical formulas for third order susceptibility in Rydberg gases, aligning well with experiments and highlighting their potential for nonlinear wave studies.

Findings

Derived explicit formulas for third order susceptibility.

Confirmed strong, nonlocal nonlinearities experimentally.

Proposed Rydberg gases as platforms for nonlinear wave phenomena.

Abstract

We present an analytical theory for the nonlinear optical response of a strongly interacting Rydberg gas under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency. Simple formulae for the third order optical susceptibility are derived and shown to be in excellent agreement with recent experiments. The obtained expressions reveal strong nonlinearities, which in addition are of highly nonlocal character. This property together with enormous strength of the Rydberg-induced nonlinearities is shown to yield a unique laboratory platform for nonlinear wave phenomena, such as collapse-arrested modulational instabilities in a self-defocussing medium.