Correlated photons and collective excitations of a cyclic atomic ensemble

Abstract

We systematically study the interaction between two quantized optical fields and a cyclic atomic ensemble driven by a classic optical field. This so-called atomic cyclic ensemble consists of three-level atoms with $\ensuremath{\Delta}$-type transitions due to the symmetry breaking, which can also be implemented in the superconducting quantum circuit by Yu-xi Liu et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 087001 (2005)]. We explore the dynamic mechanisms to creating the quantum entanglements among photon states, and between photons and atomic collective excitations by the coherent manipulation of the atom-photon system. It is shown that the quantum information can be completely transferred from one quantized optical mode to another, and the quantum information carried by the two quantized optical fields can be stored in the collective modes of this atomic ensemble by adiabatically controlling the classic field Rabi frequencies.