Single-photon interference due to motion in an atomic collective excitation

Whiting, Daniel J.; Šibalić, Nikola; Keaveney, James; Adams, Charles S.; Hughes, Ifan G.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.118.253601

Single-photon interference due to motion in an atomic collective excitation

Whiting, Daniel J.; Šibalić, Nikola; Keaveney, James; Adams, Charles S.; Hughes, Ifan G.

Authors

Daniel J. Whiting

Nikola Šibalić

James Keaveney

Professor Stuart Adams c.s.adams@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Professor Ifan Hughes i.g.hughes@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate the generation of heralded bi-chromatic single photons from an atomic collective spin excitation (CSE). The photon arrival times display collective quantum beats, a novel interference effect resulting from the relative motion of atoms in the CSE. A combination of velocity-selective excitation with strong laser dressing and the addition of a magnetic field allows for exquisite control of this collective beat phenomenon. The present experiment uses a diamond scheme with near-IR photons that can be extended to include telecommunications-wavelengths or modified to allow storage and retrieval in an inverted-Y scheme.

Citation

Whiting, D. J., Šibalić, N., Keaveney, J., Adams, C. S., & Hughes, I. G. (2017). Single-photon interference due to motion in an atomic collective excitation. Physical Review Letters, 118(25), Article 253601. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.118.253601

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	May 23, 2017
Online Publication Date	Jun 22, 2017
Publication Date	Jun 22, 2017
Deposit Date	May 22, 2017
Publicly Available Date	May 24, 2017
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Print ISSN	0031-9007
Electronic ISSN	1079-7114
Publisher	American Physical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	118
Issue	25
Article Number	253601
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.118.253601
Related Public URLs	https://arxiv.org/abs/1612.05467

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