Single-Photon Interference due to Motion in an Atomic Collective Excitation

Phys Rev Lett. 2017 Jun 23;118(25):253601. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.253601. Epub 2017 Jun 22.

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate the heralded generation of bichromatic 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.