Hannover 2016 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 57: Quantum Effects: QED II

Q 57.4: Talk

Thursday, March 3, 2016, 15:30–15:45, f442

Enhanced Nonlinearity in an Atom-Driven Cavity QED System — •Christoph Hamsen, Karl Nicolas Tolazzi, Haytham Chibani, Tatjana Wilk, and Gerhard Rempe — Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, D-85748 Garching

Optical nonlinearities at the single- to few-photon level are an essential ingredient to quantum optics and quantum information processing. An atom strongly coupled to the light field of an optical cavity provides such a nonlinearity. As described by the Jaynes-Cummings model, the system’s eigenstates form an anharmonic ladder of doublets for each excitation number giving rise to nonlinearities strong enough to enable single- or multi-photon effects [1,2].

Here we investigate a system composed of a single ⁸⁷Rb atom strongly coupled to a cavity where the coherent drive resonantly excites the quantum emitter instead of the resonator. Compared to the cavity-driven case, we expect an enhanced nonlinearity since the transition elements from the first to higher manifolds are reduced. This in turn has distinct implications on the photon statistics of the cavity emission, as demonstrated experimentally: First, driving the emitter on the normal modes yields an improved photon-blockade effect. In contrast, resonant driving to the second manifold leads to a novel nonclassical photon-concatenation effect reflecting the internal dynamics of the system.

[1] K. M. Birnbaum et al., Nature 436, 87 (2005).

[2] A. Kubanek et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 203602(2008).