Size-Reduction of Rydberg collective excited states in cold atomic system

TL;DR

This paper experimentally demonstrates a size-reduction effect in Rydberg collective states during Rabi oscillations in cold atomic gases, revealing complex dynamics influenced by atom decay and laser parameters.

Contribution

It reports the first observation of size-reduction effects in Rydberg collective states during Rabi oscillations in cold atomic gases.

Findings

Decreased oscillation frequency observed during Rabi oscillations.

Oscillations depend on Rabi frequency and laser detuning.

Chirped characteristics in the retrieved light field amplitude.

Abstract

The collective effect of large amounts of atoms exhibit an enhanced interaction between light and atoms. This holds great interest in quantum optics, and quantum information. When a collective excited state of a group of atoms during Rabi oscillation is varying, the oscillation exhibits rich dynamics. Here, we experimentally observe a size-reduction effect of the Rydberg collective state during Rabi oscillation in cold atomic dilute gases. The Rydberg collective state was first created by the Rydberg quantum memory, and we observed a decreased oscillation frequency effect by measuring the time traces of the retrieved light field amplitude, which exhibited chirped characteristics. This is caused by the simultaneous decay to the overall ground state and the overall loss of atoms. The observed oscillations are dependent on the effective Rabi frequency and detuning of the coupling laser, and the dephasing from inhomogeneous broadening. The reported results show the potential prospects of studying the dynamics of the collective effect of a large amount of atoms and manipulating a single-photon wave-packet based on the interaction between light and Rydberg atoms.