Super-extended nanofiber-guided field for coherent interaction with hot atoms

R. Finkelstein*, G. Winer, D. Z. Koplovich, O. Arenfrid, T. Hoinkes, G. Guendelman, M. Netser, E. Poem, A. Rauschenbeutel, B. Dayan, O. Firstenberg

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

We fabricate an extremely thin optical fiber that supports a super-extended mode with a diameter as large as 13 times the optical wavelength, residing almost entirely outside the fiber and guided over thousands of wavelengths (5 mm), to couple guided light to warmatomic vapor. This unique configuration balances between strong confinement, as evident by saturation powers as low as tens of nW, and long interaction times with the thermal atoms, thereby enabling fast and coherent interactions.We demonstrate narrowcoherent resonances (tens of MHz) of electromagnetically induced transparency for signals at the single-photon level and long relaxation times (10 ns) of atoms excited by the guided mode. The dimensions of the guided mode's evanescent field are compatible with the Rydberg blockade mechanism, making this platform particularly suitable for observing quantum nonlinear optics phenomena.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)208-215
Number of pages8
JournalOptica
Volume8
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2021
Externally publishedYes

Funding

FundersFunder number
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung Acknowledgment
International Council
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme678674
H2020 Excellent Science899275
European Research Council
Minerva Foundation
Israel Science Foundation
Ministry of Defense

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