Atomic Fock state preparation using Rydberg blockade.

We use coherent excitation of 3-16 atom ensembles to demonstrate collective Rabi flopping mediated by Rydberg blockade. Using calibrated atom number measurements, we quantitatively confirm the expected √N Rabi frequency enhancement to within 4%. The resulting atom number distributions are consistent with an essentially perfect blockade. We then use collective Rabi π pulses to produce N=1, 2 atom number Fock states with fidelities of 62% and 48%, respectively. The N=2 Fock state shows the collective Rabi frequency enhancement without corruption from atom number fluctuations.

Addressing atoms in optical lattices with Bessel beams.

A method of synthesizing localized optical fields with zeros on a periodic lattice is analyzed. The applicability to addressing atoms trapped in optical lattices with low cross talk is discussed.