Electromagnetically induced grating using Rydberg atom in the vicinity of metal nanoparticle

Abstract

We present a scheme to realize electromagnetically induced grating (EIG) in an ensemble of Rydberg atoms in the close vicinity of metal nanoparticle. The ensemble of strongly interacting Rydberg atoms acts as superatoms due to dipole blockade mechanism with each atom acts as a three-level cold Rydberg-dressed (87Rb) atom following cascade configuration and exhibiting EIG. The response of EIG is influenced by the metal nanoparticle and depends on the distance between Rydberg atom and metal nanoparticle. It is noticed that the diffraction intensity is enhanced in the close vicinity of the metal nanoparticle. It is also noticed that for the optimized inter-particle distance, large diffraction intensity can be observed for small vdW shift as well as in the presence of large control field.