Sub-Poissonian statistics of Rydberg-interacting dark-state polaritons

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the observation of individual dark-state polaritons in an ultracold Rydberg atomic gas, revealing sub-Poissonian photon statistics due to strong interactions and optical nonlinearities, advancing quantum light-matter interfaces.

Contribution

It reports the first observation of sub-Poissonian statistics of dark-state polaritons influenced by Rydberg interactions, highlighting new quantum nonlinear effects in atom-light interfaces.

Findings

Dark-state polaritons exhibit sub-Poissonian photon statistics.

Strong Rydberg interactions induce significant photon correlations.

Photon fluctuations are suppressed below quantum noise limit.

Abstract

Interfacing light and matter at the quantum level is at the heart of modern atomic and optical physics and enables new quantum technologies involving the manipulation of single photons and atoms. A prototypical atom-light interface is electromagnetically induced transparency, in which quantum interference gives rise to hybrid states of photons and atoms called dark-state polaritons. We have observed individual dark-state polaritons as they propagate through an ultracold atomic gas involving Rydberg states. Strong long-range interactions between Rydberg atoms give rise to an effective interaction blockade for dark-state polaritons, which results in large optical nonlinearities and modified polariton number statistics. The observed statistical fluctuations drop well below the quantum noise limit indicating that photon correlations modified by the strong interactions have a significant back-action on the Rydberg atom statistics.