Tailoring Rydberg Interactions via Microwave Dressing

Known for their exaggerated interactions, Rydberg atoms are a versatile and attractive platform for quantum technology applications. Admixing bare Rydberg states with microwaves has been proposed as a way to engineer both enhanced and suppressed interactions, enabling asymmetrical interspecies interactions between dressed states. We present progress toward realizing microwave-induced tunable Rydberg interactions with ⁸⁷Rb and dressing schemes involving choices of S and P states. We discuss our experimental microwave setup with the flexible and precise polarization control required to implement such dressed-Rydberg interaction tuning, and present a theoretical investigation of interaction tuning. The ability to modify Rydberg interactions may allow the realization of potentials with long-range bound states, fast quantum gates, and the creation of more efficient single-photon sources.