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arXiv · 2104.08873

Two-Color Optical Nonlinearity in an Ultracold Rydberg Atom Gas Mixture

Cheng Chen·Fan Yang·Xiaoling Wu·Chuyang Shen·Meng Khoon Tey·Li You
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Abstract

We report the experimental observation of strong two-color optical nonlinearity in an ultracold gas of $^{85}\mathrm{Rb}$-$^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atom mixture. By simultaneously coupling two probe transitions of $^{85}$Rb and $^{87}$Rb atoms to Rydberg states in electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) configurations, we observe significant suppression of the transparency resonance for one probe field when the second probe field is detuned at $\sim1~\mathrm{GHz}$ and hitting the EIT resonance of the other isotope. Such a cross-absorption modulation to the beam propagation dynamics can be described by two coupled nonlinear wave equations we develope. We further demonstrate that the two-color optical nonlinearity can be tuned by varying the density ratio of different atomic isotopes, which highlights its potential for exploring strongly interacting multi-component fluids of light.

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Cheng Chen, Fan Yang, Xiaoling Wu, Chuyang Shen, Meng Khoon Tey, Li You. 2021-04-18. Two-Color Optical Nonlinearity in an Ultracold Rydberg Atom Gas Mixture. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.103.053303

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