Observation of Cavity Rydberg Polaritons

TL;DR

This paper reports the experimental creation and analysis of cavity Rydberg polaritons, hybrid light-matter states with potential for quantum photonic applications, demonstrating strong coupling, enhanced coherence, and suppression of losses.

Contribution

It introduces the observation of cavity Rydberg polaritons with detailed analysis of their coherence and loss properties, advancing the understanding of light-matter hybridization in optical cavities.

Findings

Dark state Rydberg polaritons exhibit compressed spectrum and longer lifetime.

Strong collective coupling reduces inhomogeneous broadening losses.

Generalized EIT linewidth for optical cavities is characterized.

Abstract

We demonstrate hybridization of optical cavity photons with atomic Rydberg excitations using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). The resulting dark state Rydberg polaritons exhibit a compressed frequency spectrum and enhanced lifetime indicating strong light-matter mixing. We study the coherence properties of cavity Rydberg polaritons and identify the generalized EIT linewidth for optical cavities. Strong collective coupling suppresses polariton losses due to inhomogeneous broadening, which we demonstrate by using different Rydberg levels with a range of polarizabilities. Our results point the way towards using cavity Rydberg polaritons as a platform for creating photonic quantum materials.