Polarized Autler-Townes splitting of Rydberg six-wave mixing

Polarized Autler-Townes (AT) splitting of six-wave mixing (SWM) involving Rydberg atoms is for the first time observed in a thermal vapor cell. By scanning the frequency detuning of the dressing field, AT splitting of Rydberg SWM is compared with that of non-Rydberg SWM with an elliptically polarized probe field. It is demonstrated that the AT spectra are strongly dependent on the interaction between Rydberg atoms. Moreover, AT splitting of SWM is cyclically modulated via a multi-dark state and presented by the corresponding spatial SWM AT splitting images. The theoretical calculations are in good agreement with the experimental results.