Two-Photon Gateway in One-Atom Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics

Kubanek, Alexander; Ourjoumtsev, Alexei; Schuster, I.; Koch, Markus; Pinkse, Pepijn W. H.; Murr, Karim; Rempe, Gerhard

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.203602

Cited by 137 publications

(150 citation statements)

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“…We emphasize that squeezed light produced by a single atom in free space would be anti-bunched [24]. In our case, the light is squeezed and bunched [17].Our transition scheme is similar to that of a fourwave mixing process [25], but the underlying physics is radically different as the scheme arises from the strong coupling of the quantized cavity field with a two-level atom. Moreover, the non-linear process differs from that in microwave experiments [26] where short unitary evolutions interrupted by measurements produce non-classical field states while in our case the squeezed light is generated and propagated out of a dissipative resonator under steady-state driving conditions.…”

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confidence: 82%

“…We emphasize that squeezed light produced by a single atom in free space would be anti-bunched [24]. In our case, the light is squeezed and bunched [17].…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

“…This produces observable quadrature squeezing [13][14][15] with an excitation beam containing on average only two photons per system lifetime. In sharp contrast to the emission of single photons [16], the squeezed light stems from the quantum coherence of photon pairs emitted from the system [17]. The ability of a single atom to induce strong coherent interactions between propagating photons opens up new perspectives for photonic quantum logic with single emitters [18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

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confidence: 99%

“…First, the cavity mirrors spatially direct the squeezed light towards the detectors thus eliminating the need to observe the full 4π solid angle. Second, the strong coupling to the optical cavity mode makes the energy-level structure of the atom-cavity system anharmonic and thus allows for twophoton transitions [17] between the system ground state and the second dressed-state manifold containing two energy quanta[9], |2± , see Fig. 1a.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Observation of squeezed light from one atom excited with two photons

Ourjoumtsev

Kubanek

Koch

et al. 2011

Nature

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Single quantum emitters like atoms are wellknown as non-classical light sources which can produce photons one by one at given times [1], with reduced intensity noise. However, the light field emitted by a single atom can exhibit much richer dynamics. A prominent example is the predicted[2] ability for a single atom to produce quadrature-squeezed light [3], with sub-shotnoise amplitude or phase fluctuations. It has long been foreseen, though, that such squeezing would be "at least an order of magnitude more difficult" to observe than the emission of single photons [4]. Squeezed beams have been generated using macroscopic and mesoscopic media down to a few tens of atoms [5], but despite experimental efforts [6][7][8], single-atom squeezing has so far escaped observation. Here we generate squeezed light with a single atom in a highfinesse optical resonator. The strong coupling of the atom to the cavity field induces a genuine quantum mechanical nonlinearity [9], several orders of magnitude larger than for usual macroscopic media [10][11][12]. This produces observable quadrature squeezing [13][14][15] with an excitation beam containing on average only two photons per system lifetime. In sharp contrast to the emission of single photons [16], the squeezed light stems from the quantum coherence of photon pairs emitted from the system [17]. The ability of a single atom to induce strong coherent interactions between propagating photons opens up new perspectives for photonic quantum logic with single emitters [18][19][20][21][22][23].Unlike in a standard Kerr medium, our squeezing does not result from a simple nonlinear polarization of the medium but from a cavity-enhanced atomic coherence which exists for weak coherent driving. Consider a twostate atom with ground and excited states |g and |e . In the absence of a resonator, the amount of squeezing is governed by the atomic coherence, σ = |g e|, and the excited-state occupation probability. The latter pro- * Publication reference: Nature 474, 623-626 (2011), www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nature10170 † Present address: MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands duces incoherent scattering which destroys the squeezing. Therefore, the laser intensity must remain low to preserve the atomic and hence the optical coherence, see Supplementary Information. Under this condition, the optical squeezing is determined by the fluctuations of the atomic coherence, ∆σ 2 = ( σ − σ ) 2 , itself given by ∆σ 2 = − σ 2 owing to the fermionic character of a twostate atom, σ 2 = 0. Note that this sets an upper bound to the amount of squeezing which can be obtained, even when all the light scattered by the atom in all directions is observed.The presence of the cavity introduces two important ingredients as sketched in Fig. 1. First, the cavity mirrors spatially direct the squeezed light towards the detectors thus eliminating the need to observe the full 4π solid angle. Second, the strong coupling to the optical cavity mode makes ...

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mentioning

confidence: 82%

“…We emphasize that squeezed light produced by a single atom in free space would be anti-bunched [24]. In our case, the light is squeezed and bunched [17].…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Observation of squeezed light from one atom excited with two photons

Ourjoumtsev

Kubanek

Koch

et al. 2011

Nature

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“…In particular, the strong atom-photon coupling yields an extra interaction energy cost to populate the system with n photons, as compared with an empty cavity in which n photons have an energy corresponding to n times that of a single photon. This feature can be used to generate non-classical light by tuning the excitation laser to the corresponding transition frequency of the nonlinear Jaynes-Cummings ladder, as demonstrated in experiments with a single atom trapped inside a high-finesse optical resonator 27,34,35 (Fig. 1).…”

Section: Single Atoms In Cavitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantum nonlinear optics — photon by photon

2014

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other. This linearity in light propagation, in combination with the high frequency and hence large bandwidth provided by waves at optical frequencies, has made optical signals the preferred method for communicating information over long distances. In contrast, the processing of information requires some form of interaction between signals. In the case of light, such interactions can be enabled by nonlinear optical processes. These processes, which are now found ubiquitously throughout science and technology, include optical modulation and switching, nonlinear spectroscopy and frequency conversion 1 , and have applications across both the physical 2 and biological 3,4 sciences.A long-standing goal in optical science has been the implementation of nonlinear effects at progressively lower light powers or pulse energies. The ultimate limit may be termed 'quantum nonlinear optics' (Box 1) -the regime where individual photons interact so strongly with one another that the propagation of light pulses containing one, two or more photons varies substantially with photon number. Although this domain is difficult to reach owing to the small nonlinear coefficients of bulk optical materials, the potential payoff is significant. The realization of quantum nonlinear optics could improve the performance of classical nonlinear devices, enabling, for example, fast energy-efficient optical transistors that avoid Ohmic heating 5 . Furthermore, nonlinear switches activated by single photons could enable optical quantum information processing and communication 6 , as well as other applications that rely on the generation and manipulation of non-classical light fields 7,8 . The challenge of making photons interactAt low optical powers, most optical materials exhibit only linear optical phenomena, such as refraction and absorption, which can be described by a complex index of refraction. However, a sufficiently intense light beam can modify a material's index of refraction, such that the light propagation becomes power-dependent. This is the essence of classical nonlinear optics (Box 1). Large optical fields are required to alter the index of refraction of conventional bulk materials because a strong nonlinear response can only be induced if the electric field of the light beam acting on the electrons is comparable to the field of the nucleus. As a result, early experimental observations of nonlinear optical phenomena, such as frequencydoubling or sum-frequency generation 9 , were achievable only after the development of powerful lasers. Advances in nonlinear optics over the past four decades have resulted in progressively more efficient nonlinear processes 10 , thus enabling the observation of nonlinear processes at lower and lower light levels. It is natural to inquire if and how these nonlinear interactions can be made so strong that they become important even at the level of individual quanta of radiation. Although this question was addressed in early theoretical studies [11][12][13] , it has become more pressing with the advent of...

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Photovoltaic‐Ferroelectric Materials for the Realization of All‐Optical Devices

Makhort

Gumeniuk

Dayen

et al. 2021

Advanced Optical Materials

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conditions remains largely hypothetical, although finding efficient optical transistors could revolutionize conventional computers. Recent reports exploited various environments and circumstances focusing on quantum effects in atomic, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] molecular, [9] quantum dots, [10][11][12] polaritons [13,14] or graphene [15] -based systems, including electromagnetically induced transparency effects. [16,17] To be technologically compatible the all-optical gating of the light transmission must operate at room temperature with low light power and demonstrate logic functionality in solid state devices. There are also important application criteria to meet such as inputoutput insulation, cascadability, logic-level restoration, etc. [18] Thus, new simple and inexpensive device paradigms demonstrating efficient optical gating under ambient conditions are highly required. Because the mechanism by which a material interacts with light depends on its microscopic building blocks, an optical transistor can be realized based on a system that changes its intrinsic environment under illumination. Here we demonstrate the realization of this hypothesis in a cavity-free approach that does not need to operate coherently. The demonstration is realized using a ferro electric (FE) crystal, possessing also photovoltaic (PV) properties. The photoferroelectric compounds are remarkable materials having potential for an increased multi-functionality. [19][20][21] The photovoltaic properties in some FE compounds [22][23][24][25] offer an efficient interplay between light induced photo-carrier generation and non-zero intrinsic electric field in the sample. Such interplay can lead to nonlinear optical response required for changing the light propagation. Herein we report that a light transmission through a photovoltaic-ferroelectric crystal can be modulated optically via the amount of charges generated and distributed during the bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE). [22][23][24]26] Results and Discussions Optical GatingThe appropriate crystal of Pb[(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 ) 0.70 Ti 0.30 ]O 3 was selected from the well-know family of the PMN-xPT complex optimized for piezoelectricity. [27,28] These compounds exhibit a rich phase diagram [29] and exceptional optical properties reaching ∼70% transparency across a broad spectral Following how the electrical transistor revolutionized the field of electronics, the realization of an optical transistor in which the flow of light is controlled optically should open the long-sought era of optical computing and new data processing possibilities. However, such function requires photons to influence each other, an effect which is unnatural in free space. Here it is shown that a ferroelectric and photovoltaic crystal gated optically at the onset of its bandgap energy can act as an optical transistor. The light-induced charge generation and distribution processes alter the internal electric field and therefore impact the optical transmission with a memory effect and pronounced nonlinearity. The latter result...

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Two-Photon Gateway in One-Atom Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics

Cited by 137 publications

References 30 publications

Observation of squeezed light from one atom excited with two photons

Observation of squeezed light from one atom excited with two photons

Quantum nonlinear optics — photon by photon

Photovoltaic‐Ferroelectric Materials for the Realization of All‐Optical Devices

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