Hamburg 2009 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 56: Poster IV

Q 56.44: Poster

Thursday, March 5, 2009, 16:30–19:00, VMP 9 Poster

Developing Atom-Photon-Interfaces for Single-Photon Generation and Storage — •Gunnar Langfahl-Klabes, Jerome Dilley, Peter Nisbet, Genko Vasilev, Daniel Ljunggren, and Axel Kuhn — Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, UK

Single atoms coupled to high-finesse cavities provide a unique way to deterministically generate a stream of single photons of MHz bandwidth [1]. Hot atomic ensembles enable the generation, delay, storage and retrieval of single photons by precisely manipulating an EIT control field [2].

In our new laboratory we aim to generate single photons in a cavity using vacuum-stimulated Raman scattering, store them in a vapour cell, and check the retrieved photons for the preservation of their coherence properties. Generation and storage will utilise a Λ-type scheme connecting two Zeeman sub-levels of the hyperfine ground state F=1.

We report on the latest status of an atomic fountain as a ⁸⁷Rb source that will lead to atom-cavity interaction times of up to 5 ms, a cavity for single-photon generation that has parameters close to the strong coupling regime, and a ⁸⁷Rb vapour cell for photon storage.

Work detailing the theoretical optimisation of the storage and retrieval process is additionally presented.
[1] Hijlkema, M. et al. Nature Physics 3, 253 (2007)

[2] Eisaman, M. et al. Nature 438, 837 (2005)