Quantum information processing based on Rydberg atoms emerged as a promising direction two decades ago. Recent experimental and theoretical progresses have shined exciting light on this avenue. In this concise review, we will briefly introduce the basics of Rydberg atoms and their recent applications in associated areas of neutral atom quantum computation and simulation. We shall also include related discussions on quantum optics with Rydberg atomic ensembles, which are increasingly used to explore quantum computation and quantum simulation with photons.
Interaction between Rydberg atoms can significantly modify Rydberg excitation dynamics. Under a resonant driving field the Rydberg-Rydberg interaction in high-lying states can induce shifts in the atomic resonance such that a secondary Rydberg excitation becomes unlikely leading to the Rydberg blockade effect. In a related effect, off-resonant coupling of light to Rydberg states of atoms contributes to the Rydberg anti-blockade effect where the Rydberg interaction creates a resonant condition that promotes a secondary excitation in a Rydberg atomic gas. Here, we study the light-matter interact…
Hybrid quantum systems involving cold atoms and microwave resonators can enable cavity-mediated infinite-range interactions between atomic spin systems and realize atomic quantum memories and transducers for microwave to optical conversion. To achieve strong coupling of atoms to on-chip microwave resonators, it was suggested to use atomic Rydberg states with strong electric dipole transitions. Here we report on the realization of coherent coupling of a Rydberg transition of ultracold atoms trapped on an integrated superconducting atom chip to the microwave field of an on-chip coplanar waveguid…
We propose a scheme to simulate lattice spin models based on strong and long-range interacting Rydberg atoms stored in a large-spacing array of magnetic microtraps. Each spin is encoded in a collective spin state involving a single $nP$ Rydberg atom excited from an ensemble of ground-state alkali atoms prepared via Rydberg blockade. After the excitation laser is switched off the Rydberg spin states on neighbouring lattice sites interact via general isotropic or anisotropic spin-spin interactions. To read out the collective spin states we propose a single Rydberg atom triggered avalanche scheme…
Results of numerical Monte Carlo simulations for the Stark-tuned Förster resonance and dipole blockade between two to five cold rubidium Rydberg atoms in various spatial configurations are presented. The effects of the atoms' spatial uncertainties on the resonance amplitude and spectra are investigated. The feasibility of observing coherent Rabi-like population oscillations at a Förster resonance between two cold Rydberg atoms is analyzed. Spectra and the fidelity of the Rydberg dipole blockade are calculated for various experimental conditions, including nonzero detuning from the Förster reso…
Non-destructive optical read-out and manipulation of circular Rydberg atoms
Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Collège de France, CNRS, ENS-Université PSL, Sorbonne Université（卡斯特尔-布罗塞尔实验室，法兰西公学院，法国国家科学研究中心，巴黎高等师范学院-巴黎文理研究大学，索邦大学）；Institut Universitaire de France（法兰西学院）
We propose a method for the determination of the interaction potential of Rydberg atoms. Specifically, we consider a laser-driven Rydberg gas confined in a one-dimensional lattice and demonstrate that the Rydberg atom number after a laser excitation cycle as a function of the laser detuning provides a measure for the Rydberg interaction coefficient. With the lattice spacing precisely known, the proposed scheme only relies on the measurement of the number of Rydberg atoms and thus circumvents the necessity to map the interaction potential by varying the interparticle separation.
The dipole blockade effect at laser excitation of mesoscopic ensembles of Rydberg atoms lies in the fact that the excitation of one atom to a Rydberg state blocks the excitation of other atoms due to the shift in the collective energy levels of interacting Rydberg atoms. It is used to obtain the entangled qubit states based on single neutral atoms in optical traps. In this paper, we present our experimental results on the observation of the dipole blockade for mesoscopic ensembles of 1-5 atoms when they are detected by the selective field ionization method. We investigated the spectra of the t…
We study dispersive optical nonlinearities of short pulses propagating in high number density, warm atomic vapors where the laser resonantly excites atoms to Rydberg $P$-states via a single-photon transition. Three different regimes of the light-atom interaction, dominated by either Doppler broadening, Rydberg atom interactions, or decay due to thermal collisions between groundstate and Rydberg atoms, are described. We show that using fast Rabi flopping and strong Rydberg atom interactions, both in the order of gigahertz, can overcome the Doppler effect as well as collisional decay, leading to…
Due to the intrinsic strong blockaded interaction shifting the energy level of Rydberg state, the steady Rydberg probability may be substantially restrained to a low level, especially for atoms suffering from weak drivings. We report an exotic excitation facilitation using strong blockaded energy shifting the double excitation state, leading to the weakly-driven atom deterministically excited by a significantly improved fraction even at far off-resonant regimes. This phenomenon is attributed to the effective induction of a reduced detuning to the weakly-driven atom by optimizing parameters of …
Three-body Förster resonances at long-range interactions of Rydberg atoms were first predicted and observed in Cs Rydberg atoms by R.Faoro et al., Nature Comm. 6, 8173 (2015). In these resonances, one of the atoms carries away an energy excess preventing the two-body resonance, leading thus to a Borromean type of Förster energy transfer. But they were in fact observed as the average signal for the large number of atoms $N\gg1$. In this Letter we report on the first experimental observation of the three-body Förster resonances ${\rm 3}\times nP_{3/2} (|{\rm M}|)\to nS_{1/2} +(n+1)S_{1/2} +nP_{3…
We have recently shown that Alkali atoms contained in a vapor cell can serve as a highly accurate standard for microwave electric field strength as well as polarization using the principles of Rydberg atom electromagnetically induced transparency. Here, we show, for the first time, that Rydberg atom electromagnetically induced transparency can be used to image microwave electric fields with unprecedented precision. The spatial resolution of the method is far into the sub-wavelength regime. The electric field resolutions are similar to those we have demonstrated in our prior experiments. Our ex…
Recent experiments with Bose-Einstein condensates have entered a regime in which thousands of ground-state condensate atoms fill the Rydberg-electron orbit. After the excitation of a single atom into a highly excited Rydberg state, scattering off the Rydberg electron sets ground-state atoms into motion, such that one can study the quantum-many-body dynamics of atoms moving within the Rydberg atom. Here we study this many-body dynamics using Gross-Pitaevskii and truncated Wigner theory. Our simulations focus in particular on the scenario of multiple sequential Rydberg excitations on the same Ru…
We demonstrate three-dimensional trapping of individual Rydberg atoms in holographic optical bottle beam traps. Starting with cold, ground-state $^{87}$Rb atoms held in standard optical tweezers, we excite them to $nS_{1/2}$, $nP_{1/2}$, or $nD_{3/2}$ Rydberg states and transfer them to a hollow trap at 850 nm. For principal quantum numbers $60 \leqslant n \leqslant 90$, the measured trapping time coincides with the Rydberg state lifetime in a 300~K environment. We show that these traps are compatible with quantum information and simulation tasks by performing single qubit microwave Rabi flopp…
Neutral atom arrays are promising for large-scale quantum computing especially because it is possible to prepare large-scale qubit arrays. An unsolved issue is how to selectively excite one qubit deep in a 3D atomic array to Rydberg states. In this work, we show two methods for this purpose. The first method relies on a well-known result: in a dipole transition between two quantum states driven by two off-resonant fields of equal strength but opposite detunings $\pmΔ$, the transition is characterized by two counter-rotating Rabi frequencies $Ωe^{\pm iΔt}$~[or $\pmΩe^{\pm iΔt}$ if the two field…
Finite-range interacting spin models are the simplest models to study the effect of beyond nearest-neighbour interactions and access new effects caused by the range of the interactions. Recent experiments have reached the regime of dominant interactions in Ising quantum magnets via optical coupling of trapped neutral atoms to Rydberg states. This approach allows for the tunability of all relevant terms in an Ising Hamiltonian with $1/r^6$ interactions in a transverse and longitudinal field. This review summarizes the recent progress of these implementations in Rydberg lattices with site-resolv…
High-fidelity entangled Bell states are of great interest in quantum physics. Entanglement of ultracold neutral atoms in two spatially separated optical dipole traps is promising for implementation of quantum computing and quantum simulation and for investigation of Bell states of material objects. We propose a new method to entangle two atoms via long-range Rydberg-Rydberg interaction. Alternatively to previous approaches, based on Rydberg blockade, we consider radiofrequency-assisted Stark-tuned Förster resonances in Rb Rydberg atoms. To reduce the sensitivity of the fidelity of Bell states …
The performance of many control tasks with Rydberg atoms can be improved via suppression of the motion-induced dephasing between ground and Rydberg states of neutral atoms. The dephasing often occurs during the {\it gap} time when the atom is shelved in a Rydberg state before its deexcitation. By using laser fields to induce specific extra phase change to the Rydberg state during the gap time, it is possible to faithfully transfer the Rydberg state back to the ground state after the gap. Although the Rydberg state transitions back and forth between different eigenstates during the gap time, it…
We study the possibility to use interaction between a polar molecule in the ground electronic and vibrational state and a Rydberg atom to construct two-qubit gates between molecular qubits and to coherently control molecular states. A polar molecule within the electron orbit in a Rydberg atom can either shift the Rydberg state, or form Rydberg molecule. Both the atomic shift and the Rydberg molecule states depend on the initial internal state of the polar molecule, resulting in molecular state dependent van der Waals or dipole-dipole interaction between Rydberg atoms. Rydberg atoms mediated in…
We analyze excitation of two ground state atoms to a double Rydberg state by a two-photon chirped optical pulse in the regime of adiabatic rapid passage. For intermediate Rydberg-Rydberg interaction strengths, relevant for atoms separated by $\sim$ten $μ$m, adiabatic excitation can be achieved at experimentally feasible Rabi frequencies and chirp rates of the pulses, resulting in high transfer efficiencies. We also study the adiabatic transfer between ground and Rydberg states as a means to realize a controlled phase gate between atomic qubits.
We propose an approach to detect individual Rydberg molecules with each molecule consisting of two atoms in different Rydberg states. The scheme exploits the movement of atoms in the presence of an external force that exerts only on atoms in one Rydberg state. Since the movement of atoms in the other Rydberg state depends on whether they are bound with atoms directly driven by the applied force, bound atoms can be distinguished from unbound atoms. By utilizing electromagnetically induced transparency, it is possible to non-destructively image the positions of molecules. The scheme is sensitive…
We study two-photon excitation of Rydberg states of atoms under stimulated adiabatic passage with delayed laser pulses. We find that the combination of strong interaction between the atoms in Rydberg state and the spontaneous decay of the intermediate exited atomic state leads to the Rydberg excitation of precisely one atom within the atomic ensemble. The quantum Zeno effect offers a lucid interpretation of this result: the Rydberg blocked atoms repetitively scattering photons effectively monitor a randomly excited atom which therefore remains in the Rydberg state. This system can be used for …
This review summarizes experimental works performed over the last decade by several groups on the manipulation of a few individual interacting Rydberg atoms. These studies establish arrays of single Rydberg atoms as a promising platform for quantum state engineering, with potential applications to quantum metrology, quantum simulation and quantum information.
We propose an efficient method to filter out single atoms from trapped ensembles with unknown number of atoms. The method employs stimulated adiabatic passage to reversibly transfer a single atom to the Rydberg state which blocks subsequent Rydberg excitation of all the other atoms within the ensemble. This triggers the excitation of Rydberg blockaded atoms to short lived intermediate states and their subsequent decay to untrapped states. Using an auxiliary microwave field to carefully engineer the dissipation, we obtain a nearly deterministic single-atom source. Our method is applicable to sm…
We report on the selective addressing of an individual atom in a pair of single-atom microtraps separated by $3\;μ$m. Using a tunable light-shift, we render the selected atom off-resonant with a global Rydberg excitation laser which is resonant with the other atom, making it possible to selectively block this atom from being excited to the Rydberg state. Furthermore we demonstrate the controlled manipulation of a two-atom entangled state by using the addressing beam to induce a phase shift onto one component of the wave function of the system, transferring it to a dark state for the Rydberg ex…
We demonstrate spatially resolved, coherent excitation of Rydberg atoms on an atom chip. Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is used to investigate the properties of the Rydberg atoms near the gold coated chip surface. We measure distance dependent shifts (~10 MHz) of the Rydberg energy levels caused by a spatially inhomogeneous electric field. The measured field strength and distance dependence is in agreement with a simple model for the electric field produced by a localized patch of Rb adsorbates deposited on the chip surface during experiments. The EIT resonances remain narrow (…
We study resonant optical excitations of strongly-interacting Rydberg states of atoms in the presence of relaxations. We employ the quantum stochastic (Monte Carlo) wavefunctions to simulate the dissipative dynamics of tens of atoms in two-dimensional lattices. We show that under typical experimental conditions involving slow Rydberg state decay and sizable relaxation of atomic coherences, on the time scale of several microseconds the atomic ensemble approaches a stationary state in which much of the quantum correlations between the atoms have decayed away. The steady state, however, exhibits …
We demonstrate finite range binding potentials between pairs of Rydberg atoms interacting with each other via attractive and repulsive van der Waals potentials and driven by a microwave field. We show that, using destructive quantum interference to cancel single-atom Rydberg excitation, the Rydberg-dimer states can be selectively and coherently populated from the two-atom ground state. This can be used to realize a two-qubit interaction gate which is not susceptible to mechanical forces between the atoms and is therefore immune to motional decoherence.
Neutral atom qubits with Rydberg-mediated interactions are a leading platform for developing large-scale coherent quantum systems. In the majority of experiments to date, the Rydberg states are not trapped by the same potential that confines ground state atoms, resulting in atom loss and constraints on the achievable interaction time. In this work, we demonstrate that the Rydberg states of an alkaline earth atom, ytterbium, can be stably trapped by the same red-detuned optical tweezer that also confines the ground state, by leveraging the polarizability of the Yb$^+$ ion core. Using the previo…
We examine interactions between atoms continuously and coherently driven between the ground state and a Rydberg state, producing "Rydberg-dressed atoms." Because of the large dipolar coupling between two Rydberg atoms, a small admixture of Rydberg character into a ground state can produce an atom with a dipole moment of a few Debye, the appropriate size to observe interesting dipolar physics effects in cold atom systems. We have calculated the interaction energies for atoms that interact via the dipole-dipole interaction and find that due to blockade effects, the R-dependent two-atom interacti…
Quantum gates and entanglement based on dipole-dipole interactions of neutral Rydberg atoms are relevant to both fundamental physics and quantum information science. The precision and robustness of the Rydberg-mediated entanglement protocols are the key factors limiting their applicability in experiments and near-future industry. There are various methods for generating entangling gates by exploring the Rydberg interactions of neutral atoms, each equipped with its own strengths and weaknesses. The basics and tricks in these protocols are reviewed, with specific attention paid to the achievable…
An array of single Rydberg atoms driven by a frequency modulated light field is studied. The periodic modulation effectively modifies the Rabi coupling, leading to unprecedented dynamics in the presence of Rydberg-Rydberg interactions. They include state dependent population trapping, the Rydberg blockade for small and anti-blockades at large interaction strengths. Interestingly, the Schrieffer-wolf transformation reveals a fundamental process in Rydberg gases, correlated Rabi oscillations, arising from the long-range interactions, provides an alternative depiction for Rydberg blockade and it …
Rydberg states of atoms are of great current interest for quantum manipulation of mesoscopic samples of atoms. Long-range Rydberg-Rydberg interactions can inhibit multiple excitations of atoms under the appropriate conditions. These interactions are strongest when resonant collisional processes give rise to long-range C_3/R^3 interactions. We show in this paper that even under resonant conditions C_3 often vanishes so that care is required to realize full dipole blockade in micron-sized atom samples.
Neutral atoms are promising for large-scale quantum computing, but accurate neutral-atom entanglement depends on large Rydberg interactions which strongly limit the interatomic distances. Via a phase accumulation in detuned Rabi cycles enabled by a Rydberg interaction of similar magnitude to the Rydberg Rabi frequency, we study a controlled-phase gate with an arbitrary phase and extend it to the controlled-NOT gate. The gates need only three steps for coupling one Rydberg state, depend on easily accessible van der Waals interaction that naturally arises between distant atoms, and have no rotat…
This topical review addresses how Rydberg atoms can serve as building blocks for emerging quantum technologies. Whereas the fabrication of large numbers of artificial quantum systems with the uniformity required for the most attractive applications is difficult if not impossible, atoms provide stable quantum systems which, for the same species and isotope, are all identical. Whilst atomic ground-states provide scalable quantum objects, their applications are limited by the range over which their properties can be varied. In contrast, Rydberg atoms offer strong and controllable atomic interacti…
In recent years the interest in studying interactions of Rydberg atoms or ensembles thereof with optical and microwave frequency fields has steadily increased, both in the context of basic research and for potential applications in quantum information processing. We present measurements of the dispersive interaction between an ensemble of helium atoms in the 37s Rydberg state and a single resonator mode by extracting the amplitude and phase change of a weak microwave probe tone transmitted through the cavity. The results are in quantitative agreement with predictions made on the basis of the d…
We propose blue-detuned optical traps that are suitable for trapping of both ground state and Rydberg excited atoms. Addition of a background compensation field or suitable choice of the trap geometry provides a magic trapping condition for ground and Rydberg atoms at the trap center. Deviations from the magic condition at finite temperature are calculated. Designs that achieve less than 200 kHz differential trap shift between Cs ground and 125s Rydberg states for 10 μK Cs atoms are presented. Consideration of the trapping potential and photoionization rates
Rydberg atoms are remarkable tools for quantum simulation and computation. They are the focus of an intense experimental activity mainly based on low-angular-momentum Rydberg states. Unfortunately, atomic motion and levels lifetime limit the experimental time-scale to about 100$μ$s. Here, we demonstrate laser trapping of long-lived circular Rydberg states for up to 10ms. Our method is very general and opens many opportunities for quantum simulation. The 10ms trapping time corresponds to thousands of interaction cycles in a circular-state-based quantum simulator. It is also promising for quantu…
We report on a versatile, highly controllable hybrid cold Rydberg atom fiber interface, based on laser cooled atoms transported into a hollow core Kagomé crystal fiber. Our experiments are the first to demonstrate the feasibility of exciting cold Rydberg atoms inside a hollow core fiber and we study the influence of the fiber on Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) signals. Using a temporally resolved detection method to distinguish between excitation and loss, we observe two different regimes of the Rydberg excitations: one EIT regime and one regime dominated by atom loss. T…
We experimentally realize Rydberg excitations in Bose-Einstein condensates of rubidium atoms loaded into quasi one-dimensional traps and in optical lattices. Our results for condensates expanded to different sizes in the one-dimensional trap agree well with the intuitive picture of a chain of Rydberg excitations. We also find that the Rydberg excitations in the optical lattice do not destroy the phase coherence of the condensate, and our results in that system agree with the picture of localized collective Rydberg excitations including nearest-neighbour blockade.
Rydberg atom arrays are a leading platform for quantum computing and simulation, combining strong interactions with highly coherent operations and flexible geometries. However, the achievable fidelities are limited by the finite lifetime of the Rydberg states, as well as technical imperfections such as atomic motion. In this work, we propose a novel approach to Rydberg atom arrays using long-lived circular Rydberg states in optical traps. Based on the extremely long lifetime of these states, exceeding seconds in cryogenic microwave cavities that suppress radiative transitions, and gate protoco…
Rydberg atoms are at the core of an increasing number of experiments, which frequently rely on destructive detection methods, such as field ionization. Here, we present an experimental realization of single-shot non-destructive detection of ensembles of helium Rydberg atoms. We use the dispersive frequency shift of a superconducting microwave cavity interacting with the ensemble. By probing the transmission of the cavity and measuring the change in its phase, we determine the number of Rydberg atoms or the populations of Rydberg quantum states when the ensemble is prepared in a superposition. …
A Rydberg atom array coupled to a high-cooperativity optical cavity
University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校）；Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校量子计算挑战研究所）；Columbia University（哥伦比亚大学）；Oratomic
We discuss a candidate solution for the controlled trapping and manipulation of two individual Rydberg atoms by means of a magnetic Ioffe-Pritchard trap that is superimposed by a constant electric field. In such a trap Rydberg atoms experience a permanent electric dipole moment that can be of the order of several hundred Debye. The interplay of electric dipolar repulsion and three dimensional magnetic confinement leads to a well controllable equilibrium configuration with tunable trap frequency and atomic distance. We thoroughly investigate the trapping potentials and analyze the interaction-i…
We review methods for coherently controlling Rydberg quantum states of atomic ensembles using Adiabatic Rapid Passage and Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage. These methods are commonly used for population inversion in simple two-level and three-level systems. We show that adiabatic techniques allow us to control population and phase dynamics of complex entangled states of mesoscopic atomic ensembles for quantum information processing with Rydberg atoms. We also propose several schemes of single-qubit and two-qubit gates based on adiabatic passage, Rydberg blockade and Förster resonances in Ryd…
We investigate a hybrid quantum system that consists of a superatom coupled to a surface phonon-polariton. We apply this hybrid quantum system to subtract individual photons from a beam of light. Rydberg atom blockade is used to attain absorption of a single photon by an atomic microtrap. Surface phonon-polariton coupling to the superatom then triggers the transfer of the excitation to a storage state, a single Rydberg atom. The approach utilizes the interaction between a superatom and a Markovian bath that acts as a controlled decoherence mechanism to irreversibly project the superatom state …
It is clearly important to pursue atomic standards for quantities like electromagnetic fields, time, length and gravity. We have recently shown, using Rydberg states, that Rb atoms in a vapor cell can serve as a practical, compact standard for microwave electric field strength. Here, we demonstrate, for the first time, that Rb atoms excited in a vapor cell can also be used for vector microwave electrometry by using Rydberg atom electromagnetically induced transparency. We describe the measurements necessary to obtain an arbitrary microwave electric field polarization at a resolution of $0.5^\c…
We study a driven-dissipative system of atoms in the presence of laser excitation to a Rydberg state and spontaneous emission. The atoms interact via the blockade effect, whereby an atom in the Rydberg state shifts the Rydberg level of neighboring atoms. We use mean-field theory to study how the Rydberg population varies in space. As the laser frequency changes, there is a continuous transition between the uniform and antiferromagnetic phases. The nonequilibrium nature also leads to a novel oscillatory phase and bistability between the uniform and antiferromagnetic phases.
Cold atoms in highly excited Rydberg states are promising candidates to implement quantum logic gates of a quantum computer via long-range dipole-dipole interaction. Two-qubit gates require a controlled interaction of only two close Rydberg atoms. We report on the first spectroscopic observation of the resonant dipole-dipole interaction between two cold rubidium Rydberg atoms confined in a small laser excitation volume. The interaction strength was controlled by fine-tuning of the Rydberg levels into a Forster resonance using the Stark effect. The observed resonance line shapes are in good agr…
We develop a formalism for photoionization (PI) and potential energy curves (PECs) of Rydberg atoms in ponderomotive optical lattices and apply it to examples covering several regimes of the optical-lattice depth. The effect of lattice-induced PI on Rydberg-atom lifetime ranges from noticeable to highly dominant when compared with natural decay. The PI behavior is governed by the generally rapid decrease of the PI cross sections as a function of angular-momentum ($\ell$), and by lattice-induced $\ell$-mixing across the optical-lattice PECs. In GHz-deep lattices, $\ell$-mixing leads to a rich P…
We observe and measure dispersive optical non-linearities in an ensemble of cold Rydberg atoms placed inside an optical cavity. The experimental results are in agreement with a simple model where the optical non-linearities are due to the progressive appearance of a Rydberg blockaded volume within the medium. The measurements allow a direct estimation of the "blockaded fraction" of atoms within the atomic ensemble.
We have studied the behavior of cold Rydberg atoms embedded in an ultracold plasma. We demonstrate that even deeply bound Rydberg atoms are completely ionized in such an environment, due to electron collisions. Using a fast pulse extraction of the electrons from the plasma we found that the number of excess positive charges, which is directly related to the electron temperature Te, is not strongly affected by the ionization of the Rydberg atoms. Assuming a Michie-King equilibrium distribution, in analogy with globular star cluster dynamics, we estimate Te. Without concluding on heating or cool…
We study an open quantum system of atoms with long-range Rydberg interaction, laser driving, and spontaneous emission. Over time, the system occasionally jumps between a state of low Rydberg population and a state of high Rydberg population. The jumps are inherently collective and in fact exist only for a large number of atoms. We explain how entanglement and quantum measurement enable the jumps, which are otherwise classically forbidden.
