We demonstrate an information hiding and retrieval scheme with the relative phases between states in a Rydberg wave packet acting as the bits of a data register. We use a terahertz half-cycle pulse (HCP) to transfer phase-encoded information from an optically accessible angular momentum manifold to another manifold which is not directly accessed by our laser pulses, effectively hiding the information from our optical interferometric measurement techniques. A subsequent HCP acting on these wave packets reintroduces the information back into the optically accessible data register manifold which can then be `read' out.
We examine the revival structure of Rydberg wave packets. These wave packets exhibit initial classical periodic motion followed by a sequence of collapse, fractional/full revivals, and fractional/full superrevivals. The effects of quantum defects on wave packets in alkali-metal atoms and a squeezed-state description of the initial wave packets are also described. We then examine the revival structure of Rydberg wave packets in the presence of an external electric field, i.e., the revival structure of Stark wave packets. These wave packets have energies that depend on two quantum numbers and ex…
A terahertz half-cycle pulse was used to retrieve information stored as quantum phase in an $N$-state Rydberg atom data register. The register was prepared as a wave packet with one state phase-reversed from the others (the "marked bit"). A half-cycle pulse then drove a significant portion of the electron probability into the flipped state via multimode interference.
We construct minimum-uncertainty solutions of the three-dimensional Schrödinger equation with a Coulomb potential. These wave packets are localized in radial and angular coordinates and are squeezed states in three dimensions. They move on elliptical keplerian trajectories and are appropriate for the description of the corresponding Rydberg wave packets, the production of which is the focus of current experimental effort. We extend our analysis to incorporate the effects of quantum defects in alkali-metal atoms, which are used in experiments.
Non dispersive electronic Rydberg wave packets may be created in atoms illuminated by a microwave field of circular polarization. We discuss the spontaneous emission from such states and show that the elastic incoherent component (occuring at the frequency of the driving field) dominates the spectrum in the semiclassical limit, contrary to earlier predictions. We calculate the frequencies of single photon emissions and the associated rates in the "harmonic approximation", i.e. when the wave packet has approximately a Gaussian shape. The results agree well with exact quantum mechanical calculat…
We outline an analytical framework for the treatment of radial Rydberg wave packets produced by short laser pulses in the absence of external electric and magnetic fields. Wave packets of this type are localized in the radial coordinates and have p-state angular distributions. We argue that they can be described by a particular analytical class of squeezed states, called radial squeezed states. For hydrogenic Rydberg atoms, we discuss the time evolution of the corresponding hydrogenic radial squeezed states. They are found to undergo decoherence and collapse, followed by fractional and full re…
The revival structure and evolution of Rydberg wave packets are studied on a time scale much greater than the revival time $t_{\rm rev}$. We find a new level of revival structure and periodic motion different from that of the known fractional revivals. The new sequence of revivals culminates with the formation of a wave packet that more closely resembles the initial packet than does the full revival at time $t_{\rm rev}$. We refer to such a revival as a superrevival. We also show that an initial radial wave packet may be described as a type of squeezed state known as a radial squeezed state. O…
After a Rydberg wave packet forms, it is known to undergo a series of collapses and revivals within a time period called the revival time $t_{\rm rev}$, at the end of which it resembles its original shape. We study the behavior of Rydberg wave packets on time scales much greater than $t_{\rm rev}$. We find that after a few revival cycles the wave packet ceases to reform at multiples of the revival time. Instead, a new series of collapses and revivals commences, culminating after a time period $t_{\rm sr} \gg t_{\rm rev}$ with the formation of a wave packet that more closely resembles the initi…
A kick from a unipolar half-cycle pulse (HCP) can redistribute population and shift the relative phase between states in a radial Rydberg wave packet. We have measured the quantum coherence properties following the kick, and show that selected coherences can be destroyed by applying an HCP at specific times. Quantum mechanical simulations show that this is due to redistribution of the angular momentum in the presence of noise. These results have implications for the storage and retrieval of quantum information in the wave packet.
It is known that, after formation, a Rydberg wave packet undergoes a series of collapses and revivals within a time period called the revival time, $t_{\rm rev}$, at the end of which it is close to its original shape. We study the behavior of Rydberg wave packets on time scales much greater than $t_{\rm rev}$. We show that after a few revival cycles the wave packet ceases to reform at multiples of the revival time. Instead, a new series of collapses and revivals commences, culminating after a time period $t_{\rm sr} \gg t_{\rm rev}$ with the formation of a wave packet that more closely resembl…
We present a theoretical construction for closest-to-classical wave packets localized in both angular and radial coordinates and moving on a keplerian orbit. The method produces a family of elliptical squeezed states for the planar Coulomb problem that minimize appropriate uncertainty relations in radial and angular coordinates. The time evolution of these states is studied for orbits with different semimajor axes and eccentricities. The elliptical squeezed states may be useful for a description of the motion of Rydberg wave packets excited by short-pulsed lasers in the presence of external fi…
We study radial wave packets produced by short-pulsed laser fields acting on Rydberg atoms, using analytical tools from supersymmetry-based quantum-defect theory. We begin with a time-dependent perturbative calculation for alkali-metal atoms, incorporating the atomic-excitation process. This provides insight into the general wave packet behavior and demonstrates agreement with conventional theory. We then obtain an alternative analytical description of a radial wave packet as a member of a particular family of squeezed states, which we call radial squeezed states. By construction, these have c…
Time evolution of wave packets built from the eigenstates of the Dirac equation for a hydrogenic system is considered. We investigate the space and spin motion of wave packets which, in the non-relativistic limit, are stationary states with a probability density distributed uniformly along the classical, elliptical orbit (elliptic WP). We show that the precession of such a WP, due to relativistic corrections to the energy eigenvalues, is strongly correlated with the spin motion. We show also that the motion is universal for all hydrogenic systems with an arbitrary value of the atomic number Z.
This paper begins with an examination of the revival structure and long-term evolution of Rydberg wave packets for hydrogen. We show that after the initial cycle of collapse and fractional/full revivals, which occurs on the time scale $t_{\rm rev}$, a new sequence of revivals begins. We find that the structure of the new revivals is different from that of the fractional revivals. The new revivals are characterized by periodicities in the motion of the wave packet with periods that are fractions of the revival time scale $t_{\rm rev}$. These long-term periodicities result in the autocorrelation…
The dynamics of a laser-excited Rydberg electron under the influence of a fluctuating laser field are investigated. Rate equations are developed which describe these dynamics in the limit of large laser bandwidths for arbitrary types of laser fluctuations. These equations apply whenever all coherent effects have already been damped out. The range of validity of these rate equations is investigated in detail for the case of phase fluctuations. The resulting asymptotic power laws are investigated which characterize the long time dynamics of the laser-excited Rydberg electron and it is shown to w…
We employ Optimal Control Theory to discover an efficient information retrieval algorithm that can be performed on a Rydberg atom data register using a shaped terahertz pulse. The register is a Rydberg wave packet with one consituent orbital phase-reversed from the others (the ``marked bit''). The terahertz pulse that performs the decoding algorithm does so by by driving electron probability density into the marked orbital. Its shape is calculated by modifying the target of an optimal control problem so that it represents the direct product of all correct solutions to the algorithm.
We propose a wave packet basis for storing and processing several qubits of quantum information in a single multilevel atom. Using radially localized wave packet states in the Rydberg atom, we construct an orthogonal basis that is related to the usual energy level basis by a quantum Fourier transform. A transform-limited laser pulse that is short compared with the classical Kepler period of the system interacts mainly with the wave packet state localized near the atomic core, allowing selective control in this basis. We argue that wave packet control in this regime is useful for multilevel qua…
The revival structure of Stark wave packets is considered. These wave packets have energies depending on two quantum numbers and are characterized by two sets of classical periods and revival times. The additional time scales result in revival structures different from those of free Rydberg wave packets. We show that Stark wave packets can exhibit fractional revivals. We also show that these wave packets exhibit particular features unique to the Stark effect. For instance, the wave functions can be separated into distinct sums over even and odd values of the principal quantum number. These eve…
We study the photon blockade of two-photon scattering in a one-dimensional waveguide, which contains two atoms coupled via the Rydberg interaction. We obtain the analytic scattering solution of photonic wave packets with the Laplace transform method. We examine the photon correlation by addressing the two-photon relative wave function and the second-order correlation function in the single- and two-photon resonance cases. It is found that, under the single-photon resonance condition, photon bunching and antibunching can be observed in the two-photon transmission and reflection, respectively. I…
We show that the time frequency analysis of the autocorrelation function is, in many ways, a more appropriate tool to resolve fractional revivals of a wave packet than the usual time domain analysis. This advantage is crucial in reconstructing the initial state of the wave packet when its coherent structure is short-lived and decays before it is fully revived. Our calculations are based on the model example of fractional revivals in a Rydberg wave packet of circular states. We end by providing an analytical investigation which fully agrees with our numerical observations on the utility of time…
We analyze the fidelity of a deterministic quantum phase gate for two photons counterpropagating as polaritons through a cloud of Rydberg atoms under the condition of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We provide analytical results for the phase shift of the quantum gate, and provide an estimation for all processes leading to a reduction to the gate fidelity. Especially, the influence of losses form the intermediate level, dispersion of the photon wave packet, scattering into additional polariton channels, finite lifetime of the Rydberg state, as well as effects of transverse size…
We present a quantitative semiclassical theory for the decay of nondispersive electronic wave packets in driven, ionizing Rydberg systems. Statistically robust quantities are extracted combining resonance assisted tunneling with subsequent transport across chaotic phase space and a final ionization step.
The article discusses the properties of time evolution of wave packets in a few systems. Dynamics of wave packet motion for Rydberg atoms with the hierarchy of collapses and revivals is briefly reviewed. The main part of the paper focuses on the new mechanism of quantum reccurrences in wave packet dynamics. This mechanism can occur (in principle) in any physical system with strong enough spin-orbit interaction. We discuss here the SPIN_ORBIT PENDULUM effect that consists in different motions of subpackets possessing different spin fields and results in oscillations of a fraction of average ang…
Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)（奥地利科学与技术研究院）；Physics Department, Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Natural Sciences（慕尼黑工业大学物理系）；Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST)（慕尼黑量子科学与技术中心）
In this paper a coherent superposition of angular momentum states created by absorption of polarized light by molecules is analyzed. Attention is paid to the time evolution of wave packets representing spatial orientation of internuclear axis of diatomic molecule. Two examples are considered in detail. Molecules absorbing light in a permanent magnetic field experiencing Zeeman effect and molecules absorbing light in a permanent electric field experiencing quadratic Stark effect. In a magnetic field we have a wave packet that evolves in time exactly as classical dipole oscillator in a permanent…
The quantum Hall effect is necessarily accompanied by low-energy excitations localized at the edge of a two-dimensional electron system. For the case of electrons interacting via the long-range Coulomb interaction, these excitations are edge magnetoplasmons. We address the time evolution of localized edge-magnetoplasmon wave packets. On short times the wave packets move along the edge with classical E cross B drift. We show that on longer times the wave packets can have properties similar to those of the Rydberg wave packets that are produced in atoms using short-pulsed lasers. In particular, …
With the exception of the harmonic oscillator, quantum wave-packets usually spread as time evolves. We show here that, using the nonlinear resonance between an internal frequency of a system and an external periodic driving, it is possible to overcome this spreading and build non-dispersive (or non-spreading) wave-packets which are well localized and follow a classical periodic orbit without spreading. From the quantum mechanical point of view, the non-dispersive wave-packets are time periodic eigenstates of the Floquet Hamiltonian, localized in the nonlinear resonance island. We discuss the g…
We show that combination of a linearly polarized resonant microwave field and a parallel static electric field may be used to create a non-dispersive electronic wavepacket in Rydberg atoms. The static electric field allows for manipulation of the shape of the elliptical trajectory the wavepacket is propagating on. Exact quantum numerical calculations for realistic experimental parameters show that the wavepacket evolving on a linear orbit can be very easily prepared in a laboratory either by a direct optical excitation or by preparing an atom in an extremal Stark state and then slowly switchin…
