Light interactions in Rydberg ensembles.

In our work we exploit the enhanced sensitivity of Rydberg states to control the propagation of light through an atomic ensemble. For example, if the atoms are prepared in a dark state corresponding to a superposition of ground and Rydberg states the medium displays a giant electro-optic effect many orders of magnitude larger than other media. This giant electro-optic effect can be used to impose sidebands on light propagating through the ensemble.