12 research outputs found
Instability to a heterogeneous oscillatory state in randomly connected recurrent networks with delayed interactions
Oscillatory dynamics are ubiquitous in biological networks. Possible sources
of oscillations are well understood in low-dimensional systems, but have not
been fully explored in high-dimensional networks. Here we study large networks
consisting of randomly coupled rate units. We identify a novel type of
bifurcation in which a continuous part of the eigenvalue spectrum of the linear
stability matrix crosses the instability line at non-zero-frequency. This
bifurcation occurs when the interactions are delayed and partially
anti-symmetric, and leads to a heterogeneous oscillatory state in which
oscillations are apparent in the activity of individual units, but not on the
population-average level
Dispersive optical nonlinearities in an EIT-Rydberg medium
We investigate dispersive optical nonlinearities that arise from Rydberg
excitation blockade in cold Rydberg gases. We consider a two-photon transition
scheme and study the non-linear response to a weak optical probe in presence of
a strong control beam. For very low probe fields, the dominant nonlinearities
are of the third order and they can be exactly evaluated in a steady state
regime. In a more general case, the change in average atomic populations and
coherences due to Rydberg interactions can be characterized by properly defined
scaling parameters, which are generally complex numbers but in certain
situations take the usual meaning of the number of atoms in a blockade sphere.
They can be used in a simple "universal scaling" formula to determine the
dispersive optical nonlinearity of the medium. We also develop a novel
technique to account for the Rydberg interaction effects, by simplifying the
treatment of nonlocal interaction terms, the so-called collisional integrals.
We find algebraic relations that only involve two-body correlations, which can
be solved numerically. All average populations and coherences are then obtained
straightforwardly.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
Generating non-Gaussian states using collisions between Rydberg polaritons
We investigate theoretically the deterministic generation of quantum states
with negative Wigner functions, by using giant non-linearities due to
collisional interactions between Rydberg polaritons. The state resulting from
the polariton interactions may be transferred with high fidelity into a
photonic state, which can be analyzed using homodyne detection followed by
quantum tomography. Besides generating highly non-classical states of the
light, this method can also provide a very sensitive probe for the physics of
the collisions involving Rydberg states.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
A bridge between the single-photon and squeezed-vacuum state
The two modes of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen quadrature entangled state
generated by parametric down-conversion interfere on a beam splitter of
variable splitting ratio. Detection of a photon in one of the beam splitter
output channels heralds preparation of a signal state in the other, which is
characterized using homodyne tomography. By controlling the beam splitting
ratio, the signal state can be chosen anywhere between the single-photon and
squeezed state
Controlling the quantum state of a single photon emitted from a single polariton
We investigate in detail the optimal conditions for a high fidelity transfer
from a single-polariton state to a single-photon state and subsequent homodyne
detection of the single photon. We assume that, using various possible
techniques, the single polariton has initially been stored as a spin-wave
grating in a cloud of cold atoms inside a low-finesse cavity. This state is
then transferred to a single-photon optical pulse using an auxiliary beam. We
optimize the retrieval efficiency and determine the mode of the local
oscillator that maximizes the homodyne efficiency of such a photon. We find
that both efficiencies can have values close to one in a large region of
experimental parameters.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
Production et interaction de photons en utilisant des polaritons atomiques et des interactions de Rydberg
Controllably producing optical photons and making them interact are two key requirements for the development of long-distance quantum communications, and more generally for photonic quantum information processing. This thesis presents experimental studies on possible solutions to these two problems, using the conversion of the photons into collective excitations (polaritons) in a cold atomic cloud, inside the mode of a low-finesse optical cavity (~100). Firstly, ground-state polaritons are used to store a single excitation in the cloud memory. This polariton is then efficiently converted into a single photon, whose field is characterized via homodyne tomography. The single photon state’s Wigner function is reconstructed from the experimental data and exhibits negative values, demonstrating that the photon’s degrees of freedom (spatio-temporal mode and quantum state) are well controlled. Secondly, photons can be coupled to polaritons involving Rydberg states. The strong dipolar interactions between these give rise to very strong optical dispersive nonlinearities, that are characterized in a classical excitation regime. These nonlinearities can be amplified until a single photon is enough to modify the entire system’s response, allowing in principle for the generation of effective photon-photon interactions.Produire et faire interagir entre eux des photons optiques de façon contrôlée sont deux conditions nécessaires au développement de communications quantiques à longue distance, et plus généralement au traitement quantique d’information codée sur des photons. Cette thèse présente une étude expérimentale de solutions possibles a ces deux problèmes, en utilisant la conversion des photons en excitations collectives (polaritons) dans un nuage d’atomes froids, placé dans le mode d’une cavité optique de faible finesse (~100). Dans un premier temps, des polaritons entre états atomiques fondamentaux sont utilisés pour « mettre en mémoire » une excitation unique dans le nuage. Celle-ci est ensuite convertie efficacement en un photon unique, dont le champ est analysé par tomographie homodyne. La fonction de Wigner de l’état à un photon est reconstruite a partir des données expérimentales, et présente des valeurs négatives, démontrant que les degrés de liberté de ce photon (mode spatio-temporel et état quantique) sont complètement contrôlés. Dans un second temps, les photons sont couplés à des polaritons impliquant des états de Rydberg. Les fortes interactions dipolaires entre ces derniers se traduisent par des non-linéarités optiques dispersives très importantes, qui sont caractérisées dans un régime d’excitation classique. Ces non-linéarités peuvent être amplifiées jusqu’à ce qu’un seul photon suffise à modifier totalement la réponse du système, permettant en principe de générer des interactions effectives entre photons