Rabi nutations of a single electron spin in a single defect center have been detected. The coherent evolution of the spin quantum state is followed via optical detection of the spin state. Coherence times up to several microseconds at room temperature have been measured. Optical readout of the spin states leads to decoherence, equivalent to the so-called Zeno effect. Quantum beats between electron spin transitions in a single spin Hahn echo experiment are observed. A closer analysis reveals that beats also result from the hyperfine coupling of the electron spin to a single 14N nuclear spin. The results are analysed in terms of a density matrix approach of an electron spin interacting with two oscillating fields.
We report our experimental results on phase-sensitive amplification (PSA) in non-degenerate signal-idler configuration using ultra-narrow coherent population oscillations in metastable helium at room temperature. We achieved a high PSA gain of nearly 7 with a bandwidth of 200 kHz, by using the system at resonance in a single-pass scheme. Further, the measured minimum gain is close to the ideal value, showing that we have a pure PSA. This is also confirmed from our phase-to-phase transfer curves measurements, illustrating that we have a nearly perfect squeezer, which is interesting for a variet…
We report a demonstration of the hallmark concept of quantum optics: periodic collapse and revival of quantum coherence (QCR) in a room temperature ensemble of quantum dots (QD). Control over quantum states, inherent to QCR, together with the dynamical QD properties present an opportunity for practical room temperature building blocks of quantum information processing. The amplitude decay of QCR is dictated by the QD homogeneous linewidth, thus, enabling its extraction in a double-pulse Ramsey-type experiment. The more common photon echo technique was also invoked and yielded the same linewidt…
We demonstrate the Ramsey analogous experiment known as coherent control, taking place along an electrically-driven semiconductor optical amplifier operating at room temperature.
We have shown that a coherently driven solid state medium can potentially produce strong controllable short pulses of THz radiation. The high efficiency of the technique is based on excitation of maximal THz coherence by applying resonant optical pulses to the medium. The excited coherence in the medium is connected to macroscopic polarization coupled to THz radiation. We have performed detailed simulations by solving the coupled density matrix and Maxwell equations. By using a simple $V$-type energy scheme for ruby, we have demonstrated that the energy of generated THz pulses ranges from hund…
We use nominally forbidden electron-nuclear spin transitions in nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond to demonstrate coherent manipulation of a nuclear spin ensemble using microwave fields at room temperature. We show that employing an off-axis magnetic field with a modest amplitude($\approx$ 0.01 T) at an angle with respect to the NV natural quantization axes is enough to tilt the direction of the electronic spins, and enable efficient spin exchange with the nitrogen nuclei of the NV center. We could then demonstrate fast Rabi oscillations on electron-nuclear spin exchanging transitions, c…
The quantum Rabi oscillations in a coherently driven quantum dot embedded in a high-Q doubly resonant semiconductor micro-cavity in the presence of a strong second-order nonlinear medium is investigated theoretically. It is shown that the second order nonlinearity effect the Rabi oscillations in a significant manner.
Interaction with a thermal environment decoheres the quantum state of a mechanical oscillator. When the interaction is sufficiently strong, such that more than one thermal phonon is introduced within a period of oscillation, quantum coherent oscillations are prevented. This is generally thought to preclude a wide range of quantum protocols. Here, we introduce a pulsed optomechanical protocol that allows ground state cooling, general linear quantum non-demolition measurements, optomechanical state swaps, and quantum state preparation and tomography without requiring quantum coherent oscillation…
Manipulation of solid-state spin coherence is an important paradigm for quantum information processing. Current systems either operate at very low temperatures or are difficult to scale-up. Developing low-cost, scalable materials whose spins can be coherently manipulated at room temperature is thus highly-attractive for a sustainable future of quantum information science. Here we report ambient-condition all-optical initialization, manipulation and readout of single-hole spins in an ensemble of solution-grown CsPbBr3 perovskite QDs. Single-hole spins are obtained by sub-picosecond electron sca…
We report the experimental observation of Coherent Population Oscillation (CPO) based light storage in an atomic vapor cell at room temperature. Using the ultranarrow CPO between the ground levels of a $Λ$ system selected by polarization in metastable $^4$He, such a light storage is experimentally shown to be phase preserving. As it does not involve any atomic coherences it has the advantage of being robust to dephasing effects such as small magnetic field inhomogeneities. The storage time is limited by the population lifetime of the ground states of the $Λ$ system.
Solid-state color centers with manipulatable spin qubits and telecom-ranged fluorescence are ideal platforms for quantum communications and distributed quantum computations. In this work, we coherently control the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center spins in silicon carbide at room temperature, in which telecom-wavelength emission is detected. We increase the NV concentration six-fold through optimization of implantation conditions. Hence, coherent control of NV center spins is achieved at room temperature and the coherence time T2 can be reached to around 17.1 μs. Furthermore, investigation of fluor…
Due to coherent population oscillation (CPO) effect, we theoretically examine the generation and manipulation of Laguerre-Gaussian beams in terms of phase and amplitude modulation respectively in semiconductor quantum dots (SQDs). The results indicate that both phase modulation with low absorption of probe field and amplitude modulation with high efficiency can be achieved. Thus the practical way demonstrates that the SQDs system can function as effective optically addressed spatial light modulator with which the transverse spatial properties of probe fields can be artificially modulated.
The simple resonant Rabi oscillation of a two-level system in a single-mode coherent field reveals complex features at the mesoscopic scale, with oscillation collapses and revivals. Using slow circular Rydberg atoms interacting with a superconducting microwave cavity, we explore this phenomenon in an unprecedented range of interaction times and photon numbers. We demonstrate the efficient production of `cat' states, quantum superposition of coherent components with nearly opposite phases and sizes in the range of few tens of photons. We measure cuts of their Wigner functions revealing their qu…
Coherent coupling between single quantum objects is at the heart of modern quantum physics. When coupling is strong enough to prevail over decoherence, it can be used for the engineering of correlated quantum states. Especially for solid-state systems, control of quantum correlations has attracted widespread attention because of applications in quantum computing. Such coherent coupling has been demonstrated in a variety of systems at low temperature1, 2. Of all quantum systems, spins are potentially the most important, because they offer very long phase memories, sometimes even at room tempera…
We study the propagation and storage of a quantum field using ultra-narrow Coherent Population Oscillations (CPO) in a $Λ-$type atomic medium. The predictions for classical fields are checked experimentally in a metastable vapor at room temperature. We derive the evolution of its squeezing spectrum in the presence of a large classical pump field which enables CPO to exist. We show that the spontaneous emission of the residual population pumped into the excited state progressively destroys the quantum noise properties of the quantum field along propagation. The output quantum field therefore te…
Quantum coherent light-matter interactions have been at the forefront of scientific interest since the fundamental predictions of Einstein and the later work of Rabi. Direct observation of quantum coherent interactions entails probing the electronic wavefunction which requires that the electronic state of the matter does not de-phase during the measurement, a condition that can be satisfied by lengthening the coherence time or by shortening the observation time. The short de-phasing time in semiconductors has dictated that all coherent effects reported to date have been recorded directly only …
The evolution of the quantum wave packet describing an atom trapped in the surface-tip junction of the scanning tunneling microscope is investigated by using the time-dependent Schroedinger equation, and by a quasi-classical Hamiltonian approach. The estimates concern a Xe atom in a biased double-well junction potential. The exact treatment shows that quantum coherence oscillations of the metastable ground state may occur at particular resonant values of the bias voltage. The effect of decoherence by partial localization is studied within the quasi-classical frame.
We theoretically study the propagation and storage of a classical field in a $Λ$-type atomic medium using coherent population oscillations (CPOs). We show that the propagation eigenmodes strongly relate to the different CPO modes of the system. Light storage in such modes is discussed by introducing a "populariton" quantity, a mixture of populations and field, by analogy to the dark state polariton used in the context of electromagnetically induced transparency light storage protocol. As experimentally shown, this memory relies on populations and is then - by contrast with usual Raman coherenc…
Quantum control of a system requires the manipulation of quantum states faster than any decoherence rate. For mesoscopic systems, this has so far only been reached by few cryogenic systems. An important milestone towards quantum control is the so-called strong coupling regime, which in cavity optomechanics corresponds to an optomechanical coupling strength larger than cavity decay rate and mechanical damping. Here, we demonstrate the strong coupling regime at room temperature between a levitated silica particle and a high finesse optical cavity. Normal mode splitting is achieved by employing c…
We study the coherent effect of the Casimir-Polder interaction on the oscillations of two-photon driven atoms. We find that, for oscillations between two degenerate states in lambda-configuration, shifts on the Rabi frequency may be induced by non-additive level shifts. For oscillations between two Rydberg states in ladder-configuration, shifts on the Rabi frequency may be induced by the effective renormalization of the laser interaction.
We report on the excitation of single molecules via narrow zero-phonon transitions using short laser pulses. By monitoring the Stokes-shifted fluorescence, we studied the excited state population as a function of the delay time, laser intensity, and frequency detuning. A pi-pulse excitation was demonstrated with merely 500 photons, and 5 Rabi cycles were achieved at higher excitation powers. Our findings are in good agreement with theoretical calculations and provide a first step toward coherent manipulation of the electronic states of single molecules with few photons.
Recently, vacancy-related spin defects in silicon carbide (SiC) have been demonstrated to be potentially suitable for versatile quantum interface building and scalable quantum network construction. Significant efforts have been undertaken to identify spin systems in SiC and to extend their quantum capabilities using large-scale growth and advanced nanofabrication methods. Here we demonstrated a type of spin defect in the 4H polytype of SiC generated via hydrogen ion implantation with high-temperature post-annealing, which is different from any known defects. These spin defects can be optically…
We report a conceptually straightforward witness that isolates coherent electronic oscillations from their vibronic counterparts in nonlinear optical spectra of molecular aggregates: Coherent oscillations as a function of waiting time in broadband pump/broadband probe spectra correspond to coherent electronic oscillations. Oscillations in individual peaks of 2D electronic spectra do not necessarily yield this conclusion. Our witness is simpler to implement than quantum process tomography and potentially resolves a long-standing controversy on the character of oscillations in ultrafast spectra …
We determine the Rabi oscillations for coherent and squeezed coherent states via one- and two-photon atomic transitions in two- and three-level atoms, respectively. The effect of squeezing coherent states is to reduce the large number of photons of mesoscopic scale to fewer photons and so be able to use numerical solutions with the aid of the Jaynes-Cummings model. We maximize the squeezing of the coherent state by minimizing the ratio of the photon number variance to photon number, thus narrowing the region where revival occurs.
Coherent collective oscillations of electrons excited in metallic nanostructures (localized surface plasmons) can confine incident light to atomic scales and enable strong light-matter interactions, which depend nonlinearly on the local field. Direct sampling of such collective electron oscillations in real-time is crucial to performing petahertz scale optical modulation, control, and readout in a quantum nanodevice. Here, we demonstrate real-time tracking of collective electron oscillations in an Au bowtie nanoantenna, by recording photo-assisted tunnelling currents generated by such oscillat…
We consider sweeping a system through a Landau-Zener avoided-crossing, when that system is also coupled to an environment or noise. Unsurprisingly, we find that decoherence suppresses the coherent oscillations of quantum superpositions of system states, as superpositions decohere into mixed states. However, we also find an effect we call "Lamb-assisted coherent oscillations", in which a Lamb shift exponentially enhances the coherent oscillation amplitude. This dominates for high-frequency environments such as super-Ohmic environments, where the coherent oscillations can grow exponentially as e…
We examine the behavior of single photons at multiport devices and inquire if coherent effects are possible. In particular we study how single photons need to be manipulated in order to study coherent phenomena. We show that single photons need to be produced in W states which lead to vanishing mean amplitude but nonzero correlations between the inputs at different ports. Such correlations restore coherent effects with single photons. As a specific example we demonstrate Bloch oscillations with single photons and thus provide strict analog of Bloch oscillation of electrons.
Optically active defects in solids with accessible spin states are promising candidates for solid state quantum information and sensing applications. To employ these defects as quantum building blocks, coherent manipulation of their spin state is required. Here we realize coherent control of ensembles of boron vacancy (V$_B^-$) centers in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Specifically, by applying pulsed spin resonance protocols, we measure spin-lattice relaxation time ($T_1$) of 18 $μ$s and spin coherence time ($T_2$) of 2 $μ$s at room temperature. The spin-lattice relaxation time increases by t…
We demonstrate resolved sideband laser cooling of a single 40Ca+ ion in a macroscopic linear radio frequency trap with a radial diagonal electrode spacing of 7 mm and an rf drive frequency of just 3.7 MHz. For an oscillation frequency of 585 kHz along the rf-field-free axis, a ground state population of 99+-1% has been achieved, corresponding to a temperature of only 6 microkelvin. For several oscillation frequencies in the range 285 - 585 kHz, heating rates below one motional quantum per second have been measured at room temperature. The lowest measured heating power is about an order of magn…
We have analyzed theoretically the operation of the Bayesian quantum feedback of a solid-state qubit, designed to maintain perfect coherent oscillations in the qubit for arbitrarily long time. In particular, we have studied the feedback efficiency in presence of dephasing environment and detector nonideality. Also, we have analyzed the effect of qubit parameter deviations and studied the quantum feedback control of an energy-asymmetric qubit.
We study coherent oscillations in double quantum dots tunnel-coupled to metallic leads by means of full counting statistics of electron transport. If two such systems are coupled by Coulomb interaction, there are in total six (instead of only two) oscillation modes of the entangled system with interaction-dependent oscillation frequencies. By tuning the bias voltage, one can engineer decoherence such that only one of the six modes, in which the charge oscillations in both double quantum dots become synchronized in antiphase, is singled out. We suggest to use waiting-time distributions and the …
We consider the problem of continuous quantum measurement of coherent oscillations between two quantum states of an individual two-state system. It is shown that the interplay between the information acquisition and the backaction dephasing of the oscillations by the detector imposes a fundamental limit, equal to 4, on the signal-to-noise ratio of the measurement. The limit is universal, e.g., independent of the coupling strength between the detector and system, and results from the tendency of quantum measurement to localize the system in one of the measured eigenstates.
We study the generation of paired photons due to the effect of four-wave mixing in an ensemble of pumped two-level systems that decay via an intermediate metastable state. The slow population relaxation of the metastable state to the ground state is utilized to create long-lived coherent population oscillation, leading to narrowband nonlinear response of the medium. The biphotons have a narrow bandwidth, long coherence time and length, which can be controlled by the pump field. In addition, the biphotons are antibunched, with antibunching period determined by the dephasing time. During this pe…
We study a two-species mixture of exciton-polaritons with self- and cross-interaction nonlinearities in a double well structure, in the presence of relaxation and continuous pumping. We identify the conditions that render the system parity-time ($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetric, and investigate its dynamic and static properties. We show that the system can exhibit long-term coherent oscillations of populations of the two polaritonic components between the two potential wells, and can simulate the dynamics of a pair of spin-1/2 particles (qubits) in the presence of exchange interaction.
Spin defects in silicon carbide (SiC) with mature wafer-scale fabrication and micro/nano-processing technologies have recently drawn considerable attention. Although room temperature single-spin manipulation of colour centres in SiC has been demonstrated, the typically detected contrast is less than 2%, and the photon count rate is also low. Here, we present the coherent manipulation of single divacancy spins in 4H-SiC with a high readout contrast (-30%) and a high photon count rate (150 kilo counts per second) under ambient conditions, which are competitive with the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) cent…
Cosmic inflation is commonly assumed to be driven by quantum fields. Quantum mechanics predicts phenomena such as quantum fluctuations and tunneling of the field. Here we show an example of a quantum interference effect which goes beyond the semi-classical treatment and which may be of relevance in the early universe. We study the quantum coherent dynamics for a tilted, periodic potential, which results in genuine quantum oscillations of the inflaton field, analogous to Bloch oscillations in condensed matter and atomic systems. Our results show that quantum interference phenomena may be of rel…
The dynamics of two traps with ultracold atoms and connected by Josephson type coupling, is shown to exhibit a transition from dispersive dynamics to localized coherent oscillations. This transition is controlled by coupling strength and energy offset between the traps. The dynamics is also shown to be exactly that of a Heisenberg chain with a linear magnetic field. Possible applications for ``quantum-state engineering'' are discussed.
We point out that in higher dimensions, in contrast to the one dimensional case considered usually, Bloch oscillation driven by a static force can induce transport of the wave packet. The wave packet oscillates constantly, but on a larger time scale it drifts at a constant velocity permanently. As a noteworthy feature, the net transport in the long run is always normal to the external force and thus controlled by it. We verify this prediction numerically and discuss its experimental realization both with cold atoms in optical lattices and with two dimensional photonic lattices.
We present experimental observations and a study of quantum dynamics of strongly interacting electronic spins, at room temperature in the solid state. In a diamond substrate, a single nitrogen vacancy (NV) center coherently interacts with two adjacent S = 1/2 dark electron spins. We quantify NV-electron and electron-electron couplings via detailed spectroscopy, with good agreement to a model of strongly interacting spins. The electron-electron coupling enables an observation of coherent flip-flop dynamics between electronic spins in the solid state, which occur conditionally on the state of th…
When an atom strongly couples to a cavity, it can undergo coherent vacuum Rabi oscillations. Controlling these oscillatory dynamics quickly relative to the vacuum Rabi frequency enables remarkable capabilities such as Fock state generation and deterministic synthesis of quantum states of light, as demonstrated using microwave frequency devices. At optical frequencies, however, dynamical control of single-atom vacuum Rabi oscillations remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate coherent transfer of optical frequency excitation between a single quantum dot and a cavity by controlling vacuum Rabi o…
A two-level quantum system coherently driven by a resonant electromagnetic field oscillates sinusoidally between the two levels at frequency $Ω$ which is proportional to the field amplitude [1]. This phenomenon, known as the Rabi oscillation, has been at the heart of atomic, molecular and optical physics since the seminal work of its namesake and coauthors [2]. Notably, Rabi oscillations in isolated single atoms or dilute gases form the basis for metrological applications such as atomic clocks and precision measurements of physical constants [3]. Both inhomogeneous distribution of coupling str…
We report on the storage of Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) of light via the phenomenon of Coherent Population Oscillation (CPO) in cold cesium atoms. The experiment is performed using a delayed four wave mixing configuration where the transverse optical information of a probe field carrying OAM associated with its azimuthal phase dependence is stored in the CPO of Zeeman sublevels of the hyperfine transition $F=3\rightarrow F^{\prime}=2$ of cesium $D_{2}$ line. We also demonstrate experimentally the simultaneous storage and retrieval of different OAM states propagating along different directio…
We demonstrate coherent storage and retrieval of pulsed light using the atomic frequency comb quantum memory protocol in a room temperature alkali vapour. We utilise velocity-selective optical pumping to prepare multiple velocity classes in the $F=4$ hyperfine ground state of caesium. The frequency spacing of the classes is chosen to coincide with the $F'=4 - F'=5$ hyperfine splitting of the $6^2$P$_{3/2}$ excited state resulting in a broadband periodic absorbing structure consisting of two usually Doppler-broadened optical transitions. Weak coherent states of duration $2\,\mathrm{ns}$ are map…
In this note I introduce a mysterious approximation called the rotating wave approximation (RWA) to undergraduates or non-experts who are interested in both Mathematics and Quantum Optics. In Quantum Optics it plays a very important role in order to obtain an analytic approximate solution of some Schr{ö}dinger equation, while it is curious from the mathematical point of view. I explain it carefully with two coherent oscillations for them and expect that they will overcome the problem in the near future.
It is now widely accepted that quenches through the critical region of quantum phase transitions result in post-transition states populated with topological defects -- analogs of the classical topological defects. However, consequences of the very non-classical fact that the state after a quench is a {\it superposition} of distinct, broken-symmetry vacua with different numbers and locations of defects have remained largely unexplored. We identify coherent quantum oscillations induced by such superpositions in observables complementary to the one involved in symmetry breaking. These oscillation…
