arXiv · 1608.03076
Hong-Ou-Mandel Interference between Two Deterministic Collective Excitations in an Atomic Ensemble
Abstract
We demonstrate deterministic generation of two distinct collective excitations in one atomic ensemble, and we realize the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference between them. Using Rydberg blockade we create single collective excitations in two different Zeeman levels, and we use stimulated Raman transitions to perform a beam-splitter operation between the excited atomic modes. By converting the atomic excitations into photons, the two-excitation interference is measured by photon coincidence detection with a visibility of 0.89(6). The Hong-Ou-Mandel interference witnesses an entangled NOON state of the collective atomic excitations, and we demonstrate its two times enhanced sensitivity to a magnetic field compared with a single excitation. Our work implements a minimal instance of Boson sampling and paves the way for further multi-mode and multi-excitation studies with collective excitations of atomic ensembles.
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Jun Li, Ming-Ti Zhou, Bo Jing, Xu-Jie Wang, Sheng-Jun Yang, Xiao Jiang, Klaus Mølmer, Xiao-Hui Bao, Jian-Wei Pan. 2016-08-10. Hong-Ou-Mandel Interference between Two Deterministic Collective Excitations in an Atomic Ensemble. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.117.180501
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