Rydberg polaritons in a thermal vapor

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a pulsed four-wave mixing scheme to create, store, and retrieve Rydberg polaritons in a heated thermal vapor of rubidium atoms, with potential applications in single-photon sources.

Contribution

It introduces a method for generating and manipulating Rydberg polaritons in a thermal vapor, highlighting the effects of motional dephasing and potential for single-photon sources.

Findings

Rydberg polaritons have a lifetime of about 1.2 ns.

The scheme works in a heated thermal vapor cell.

Potential for deterministic single-photon sources with added Rydberg blockade.

Abstract

We present a pulsed four-wave mixing (FWM) scheme via a Rydberg state to create, store and retrieve collective Rydberg polaritons. The storage medium consists of a gas of thermal Rb atoms confined in a 220 {\mu}m thick cell, which are heated above room temperature. The experimental sequence consists of a pulsed excitation of Rydberg polaritons via the D1 line, a variable delay or storage time, and a final retrieval pulse via the D2 line. The lifetime of the Rydberg polaritons is around 1.2 ns, almost entirely limited by the excitation bandwidth and the corresponding motional dephasing of the atoms. The presented scheme combined with a tightly confined atomic ensemble is a good candidate for a deterministic single-photon source, as soon as strong interactions in terms of a Rydberg blockade are added.