Nonlinear optics at the two-photon level

Summary form only given.Nonlinear optical effects are normally limited to high-intensity fields containing a large number of photons because the electric field associated with a single photon is usually very weak. Nonlinear phase shifts at the two-photon level previously have been observed using high-Q cavities and atomic beams. The authors recently predicted that nonlocal effects involving pairs of atoms in a medium could enhance the nonlinear interaction between two photons to the point that nonlinear phase shifts could be obtained in an ordinary medium without the use of resonant cavities.