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SYSA: Symposium Single Atoms

SYSA 1: Single Atoms I

SYSA 1.1: Hauptvortrag

Donnerstag, 11. März 2010, 10:30–11:00, A 320

Cavity EIT with single atoms — •Stephan Ritter, Martin Mücke, Eden Figueroa, Jörg Bochmann, Carolin Hahn, Celso J. Villas-Boas, and Gerhard Rempe — Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany

A single atom trapped at the center of a high-finesse optical cavity is an ideal starting point for studying the coherent interaction between light and matter. At the same time, it provides great possibilities for quantum information processing, exemplified by our demonstration of efficient, lossless hyperfine state detection based on the Purcell effect. Making use of the rich level structure of ⁸⁷Rb, it is possible to go beyond the Jaynes-Cummings physics. A three-level system in a lambda configuration inside the cavity allows for the efficient generation of single photons with their temporal, spectral and polarization properties accurately controlled. This allows for the generation of atom-photon and photon-photon entanglement, an ideal starting point for the realization of a distributed quantum network. Quantum interference in the amplitudes of the two optical transitions can lead to electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), where the presence of a weak control beam drastically alters the optical properties of the medium. Inside an optical cavity, this effect is highly enhanced and expected to be observable for a few or even single atoms. The high electric field per photon should allow for nonlinear interactions between single photons mediated by single atoms, which is appealing for future applications in quantum information processing. We discuss prospects for cavity-based EIT with single atoms and present first experimental results.