Spin squeezing and Schrodinger-cat-state generation in atomic samples with Rydberg blockade

A scheme is proposed to prepare squeezed states and Schrodinger-cat-like states of the collective spin degrees of freedom associated with a pair of ground states in an atomic ensemble. The scheme uses an effective Jaynes-Cummings interaction which can be provided by excitation of the atoms to Rydberg states and an effective J(x) interaction implemented by a resonant Raman coupling between the atomic ground states. Dynamical evolution both with a constant Hamiltonian and with adiabatic variation of the two interaction terms is studied. We show that by the application of further resonant laser fields, we can suppress nonadiabatic transfer under the time-varying Hamiltonian and significantly speed up the evolution towards a maximally squeezed, J(z) = 0, collective spin state.