Strong interaction between light and a single trapped atom without a cavity

Author

Khoon, Tey Meng ; Chen, Zilong ; Aljunid, Syed Abdullah ; Chng, Brenda ; Maslennikov, Gleb ; Kurtsiefer, Christian

Author_Institution

Phys. Dept, Nat. Univ. of Singapore, Singapore

fYear

2008

fDate

4-9 May 2008

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

2

Abstract

We measured the extinction of a focused light beam by a single ⁸⁷Rb atom localized in an optical dipole trap and found a value of 7.2% for a focused Gaussian beam resonantly interacting with an atomic two-level system. Various models describing interaction of an atom with a focused light field are compared to explain our experimental result. Our experiment suggests that a strong coupling may be achieved without cavity assistance. This opens new perspectives for a development of an efficient atom-photon interface for Quantum Information processing.

Keywords

atom-photon collisions; laser beams; optical focusing; optical information processing; quantum optics; radiation pressure; rubidium; Rb; atom-photon interface; atomic two-level system; focused Gaussian beam interaction; focused light beam field; optical dipole trap; quantum information processing; single ⁸⁷Rb atom localization; single trapped atom; Atom optics; Atomic beams; Atomic measurements; Charge carrier processes; Lenses; Optical coupling; Optical pumping; Physics; Probes; Resonance; 020.0020 Atomic and molecular physics; 270.0270 Quantum Optics;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

iet

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2008 and 2008 Conference on Quantum Electronics and Laser Science. CLEO/QELS 2008. Conference on

Conference_Location

San Jose, CA

Print_ISBN

978-1-55752-859-9

Type

conf

Filename

4572912