Hamburg 2009 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 30: Poster II

Q 30.46: Poster

Tuesday, March 3, 2009, 16:30–19:00, VMP 9 Poster

Shaped Single Photons from a Coupled Atom-Cavity System — •David Moehring, Jörg Bochmann, Martin Mücke, Bernhard Weber, Holger Specht, and Gerhard Rempe — Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, 85748 Garching

We report on the fast excitation and subsequent single photon emission of a single atom trapped and coupled to a high-finesse optical cavity [1]. In contrast to the simple exponential decay governing free-space emission, the coupled atom-cavity system evolves with a coherent oscillatory energy exchange between the atom and the cavity. We record the shape of the emitted single photons and investigate the dependence on detuning of the cavity with respect to the atomic resonance. The observed oscillatory behavior is in excellent agreement with theory and illustrates the fundamentals of cavity quantum electrodynamics at the single particle level. Our technique opens up new perspectives for shaping single-photon wave packets as well as new possibilities for quantum networking experiments.

[1] J. Bochmann et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 223601 (2008).