Nonlinear Optics in the Quantum Regime, Based on Ultracold Rydberg Atoms

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Optics, a central field of physics research in its own right, continues to produce new technologies which find widespread and extremely powerful application in fields ranging from atomic physics to information sciences to biology and medicine. Most of modern optics research over the past 50 years falls broadly into two areas: "nonlinear optics," where interactions between intense beams of light lead to rich, complex phenomena; and "quantum optics," where the particle nature of light plays a role and novel effects due to quantum mechanics have been shown to offer exciting new possibilities (e.g. for ultrasecure communications, exponential speedups in certain computational tasks, and quantum-enhanced precision measurement). Such "nonlinear" interactions are generally so weak that they are unobservable at the single-photon level, meaning that these two realms of optical physics have moved in opposite directions, with very little overlap. Based on the recent discovery that highly excited atomic states (known as "Rydberg states") can be used to generate powerful interactions at the single-photon level, it is suddenly becoming feasible to merge these two areas, developing an essentially new field of physics, previously inaccessible. In this new frontier of "quantum nonlinear optics," the richness of nonlinear interactions will be harnessed to create and utilize quantum entanglement. In addition to opening up an entirely new domain for fundamental research, this has the promise to lead to powerful new quantum technologies, for instance for quantum computation and simulation. We are requesting funds to purchase the laser systems necessary to excite these Rydberg states, building on our group's unique combination of expertise with ultracold atoms and entangled photons, along with our several-year-old project on quantum light-matter interfaces. This equipment will position us to be among the handful of teams around the world participating in the birth of this new field of physics.