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Observation of three-photon bound states in a quantum nonlinear medium.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Liang, Q-Y; Venkatramani, AV; Cantu, SH; Nicholson, TL; Gullans, MJ; Gorshkov, AV; Thompson, JD; Chin, C; Lukin, MD; Vuletić, V
Published in: Science (New York, N.Y.)
February 2018

Bound states of massive particles, such as nuclei, atoms, or molecules, constitute the bulk of the visible world around us. By contrast, photons typically only interact weakly. We report the observation of traveling three-photon bound states in a quantum nonlinear medium where the interactions between photons are mediated by atomic Rydberg states. Photon correlation and conditional phase measurements reveal the distinct bunching and phase features associated with three-photon and two-photon bound states. Such photonic trimers and dimers possess shape-preserving wave functions that depend on the constituent photon number. The observed bunching and strongly nonlinear optical phase are described by an effective field theory of Rydberg-induced photon-photon interactions. These observations demonstrate the ability to realize and control strongly interacting quantum many-body states of light.

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Published In

Science (New York, N.Y.)

DOI

EISSN

1095-9203

ISSN

0036-8075

Publication Date

February 2018

Volume

359

Issue

6377

Start / End Page

783 / 786

Related Subject Headings

  • General Science & Technology
 

Citation

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ICMJE
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Liang, Q.-Y., Venkatramani, A. V., Cantu, S. H., Nicholson, T. L., Gullans, M. J., Gorshkov, A. V., … Vuletić, V. (2018). Observation of three-photon bound states in a quantum nonlinear medium. Science (New York, N.Y.), 359(6377), 783–786. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao7293
Liang, Qi-Yu, Aditya V. Venkatramani, Sergio H. Cantu, Travis L. Nicholson, Michael J. Gullans, Alexey V. Gorshkov, Jeff D. Thompson, Cheng Chin, Mikhail D. Lukin, and Vladan Vuletić. “Observation of three-photon bound states in a quantum nonlinear medium.Science (New York, N.Y.) 359, no. 6377 (February 2018): 783–86. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao7293.
Liang Q-Y, Venkatramani AV, Cantu SH, Nicholson TL, Gullans MJ, Gorshkov AV, et al. Observation of three-photon bound states in a quantum nonlinear medium. Science (New York, NY). 2018 Feb;359(6377):783–6.
Liang, Qi-Yu, et al. “Observation of three-photon bound states in a quantum nonlinear medium.Science (New York, N.Y.), vol. 359, no. 6377, Feb. 2018, pp. 783–86. Epmc, doi:10.1126/science.aao7293.
Liang Q-Y, Venkatramani AV, Cantu SH, Nicholson TL, Gullans MJ, Gorshkov AV, Thompson JD, Chin C, Lukin MD, Vuletić V. Observation of three-photon bound states in a quantum nonlinear medium. Science (New York, NY). 2018 Feb;359(6377):783–786.
Journal cover image

Published In

Science (New York, N.Y.)

DOI

EISSN

1095-9203

ISSN

0036-8075

Publication Date

February 2018

Volume

359

Issue

6377

Start / End Page

783 / 786

Related Subject Headings

  • General Science & Technology