Abstract
In this paper, we report on numerical calculations of the spontaneous emission rates and Lamb shifts of a $^{87}\text{Rb}$ atom in a Rydberg-excited state $\left(n\leq30\right)$ located close to a silica optical nanofiber. We investigate how these quantities depend on the fiber's radius, the distance of the atom to the fiber, the direction of the atomic angular momentum polarization as well as the different atomic quantum numbers. We also study the contribution of quadrupolar transitions, which may be substantial for highly polarizable Rydberg states. Our calculations are performed in the macroscopic quantum electrodynamics formalism, based on the dyadic Green's function method. This allows us to take dispersive and absorptive characteristics of silica into account; this is of major importance since Rydberg atoms emit along many different transitions whose frequencies cover a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Our work is an important initial step towards building a Rydberg atom-nanofiber interface for quantum optics and quantum information purposes.
Highlights
Within the past two decades, the strong dipole-dipole interaction experienced by two neighboring Rydberg-excited atoms [1] has become the main ingredient for many atombased quantum information protocol proposals [2]
In the perspective of building a quantum network based on Rydberg-blockaded atomic ensembles linked via an optical nanofiber, we recently studied the spontaneous emission of a highly excited (Rydberg) sodium atom in the neighborhood of an optical nanofiber made of silica [27]
We present and interpret the numerical results we obtained for spontaneous emission rates and Lamb shifts of a 87Rb atom in the vicinity of a silica optical nanofiber
Summary
Within the past two decades, the strong dipole-dipole interaction experienced by two neighboring Rydberg-excited atoms [1] has become the main ingredient for many atombased quantum information protocol proposals [2] This interaction can be so large as to forbid the simultaneous resonant excitation of two atoms if their separation is less than a specific distance, called the blockade radius [3], which typically depends on the intensity of the laser excitation and the interaction between the Rydberg atoms [4]. Photons naturally appear as ideal information carriers and the photonbased protocols considered so far include free space [17] or guided propagation through optical fibers [13] The former has the advantage of being relatively easy to implement but presents the drawback of strong losses.
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