Cold atoms coupled via Rydberg interactions are a prime platform for a broad variety of tasks across quantum computing, sensing, simulation, and nonlinear optics. Understanding how to manipulate and characterize these interactions is a key task for advancing quantum technologies. Here, we theoretically investigate the retrieval of quantized light from a trapped atomic ensemble, with Rydberg interactions tuned through the use of microwave dressing. By studying the statistics of the retrieved photons, we characterize the blockade radius of the interacting ensemble, accounting for the effects of Rydberg decay, spontaneous emission, and interaction-induced dynamics during the retrieval process in a detailed theoretical model. In particular, we study the viability of such ensembles as fast, nonlinear optical elements at the single-photon level, which would permit the development of improved single-photon transistors and the enhanced production of non-classical states of light.

Pizza and drinks will be served after the seminar in ATL 2117.