Blockaded six- and eight-wave mixing processes tailored by electromagnetically induced transparency scissors

We report the first experimental observations of the blockaded six- and eight-wave mixing processes in a collective multi-level Rydberg atomic ensemble tailored by multi-channel scissors and created by three coexisting electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) windows. The interplay between the dressed-state effect and the Rydberg blockade caused by strong van der Waals interactions is investigated when several parameters in the excitation lasers are changed. Blockaded multi-wave mixing (MWM) signals are obtained when the coupling frequency detuning is changed, which is improved to give multiple channels when the probe detuning is scanned. Such MWM signals tailored by EIT scissors produce a much narrower linewidth and therefore are suitable for application in long-distance quantum communication. The advantages of having multi-channel blockaded MWM signals also makes potential applications in demonstrating multi-channel entanglement possible and improves the performance of quantum computation with Rydberg atoms.