Properties of collective Rabi oscillations with two Rydberg atoms

Motivated by experimental advances that the collective excitation of two Rydberg atoms was observed, we provide an elaborate theoretical study for the dynamical behavior of two-atom Rabi oscillations. In the large-intermediate-detuning case, the two-photon Rabi oscillation is found to be significantly affected by the strength of the interatomic van der Waals interaction. With a careful comparison of the exact numbers and values of the oscillation frequency, we propose a new way to determine the strength of excitation blockade, agreeing well with the previous universal criterion for full, partial, and no blockade regions. In the small-intermediate-detuning case, we find a blockade-like effect, but the collective enhancement factor is smaller than √2 due to the quantum interference of double optical transitions involving the intermediate state. Moreover, a fast two-photon Rabi oscillation in ns timescale is manifested by employing intense lasers with an intensity of ~MW/cm², offering a possibility of ultrafast control of quantum dynamics with Rydberg atoms.