Suppress motional dephasing of ground-Rydberg transition for high-fidelity quantum control with neutral atoms

Abstract

The performance of many control tasks with Rydberg atoms can be improved via suppression of the motion-induced dephasing between ground and Rydberg states of neutral atoms. The dephasing often occurs during the {\it gap} time when the atom is shelved in a Rydberg state before its deexcitation. By using laser fields to induce specific extra phase change to the Rydberg state during the gap time, it is possible to faithfully transfer the Rydberg state back to the ground state after the gap. Although the Rydberg state transitions back and forth between different eigenstates during the gap time, it preserves the blockade interaction between the atom of interest and a nearby Rydberg excitation. This simple method of suppressing the motional dephasing of a flying Rydberg atom can be used in a broad range of quantum control over neutral atoms.