Abstract

Light bullets (LBs) are localized nonlinear waves propagating in high spatial dimensions. Finding stable LBs and realizing their control are desirable due to the interesting physics and potential applications. Here, we show that nonlocal LBs generated in a cold Rydberg atomic gas via the balance among the dispersion, diffraction, and giant nonlocal Kerr nonlinearity contributed by long-range Rydberg-Rydberg interaction can be actively manipulated by using a weak gradient magnetic field. Nonlocal LBs are generated by a balance among dispersion, diffraction, and large nonlocal Kerr nonlinearities contributed by long-range Rydberg-Rydberg interactions. Here, we find that active manipulation can be achieved by weak gradient magnetic fields in cold Rydberg atomic gases. Especially, the LBs may undergo significant Stern–Gerlach deflections, and their motion trajectories can be controlled by adjusting the magnetic-field gradient. The results reported here are helpful not only for understanding unique properties of LBs in nonlocal optical media but also for finding ways for precision measurements of magnetic fields.

© 2022 Chinese Laser Press

Stern–Gerlach effect of vector light bullets in a nonlocal Rydberg medium

Yue Mu and Guoxiang Huang
Opt. Lett. 47(23) 6221-6224 (2022)

Parity-time symmetry light bullets in a cold Rydberg atomic gas

Si-Liu Xu, Hong Li, Qin Zhou, Guo-Peng Zhou, Dong Zhao, Milivoj R. Belić, Jun-Rong He, and Yuan Zhao
Opt. Express 28(11) 16322-16332 (2020)

Stable single light bullets and vortices and their active control in cold Rydberg gases

Zhengyang Bai, Weibin Li, and Guoxiang Huang
Optica 6(3) 309-317 (2019)

Enhanced third-order and fifth-order Kerr nonlinearities in a cold atomic system via Rydberg-Rydberg interaction

Zhengyang Bai and Guoxiang Huang
Opt. Express 24(5) 4442-4461 (2016)

Light propagation in a three-dimensional Rydberg gas with a nonlocal optical response

Yan-Li Zhou
Opt. Express 29(10) 15300-15308 (2021)