We report on the fast excitation of a single atom coupled to an optical cavity using laser pulses that are much shorter than all other relevant processes. The cavity frequency constitutes a control parameter that allows the creation of single photons in a superposition of two tunable frequencies. Each photon emitted from the cavity thus exhibits a pronounced amplitude modulation determined by the oscillatory energy exchange between the atom and the cavity. Our technique constitutes a versatile tool for future quantum networking experiments.
@article{arxiv.0806.2600,
title = {Fast Excitation and Photon Emission of a Single-Atom-Cavity System},
author = {J. Bochmann and M. Muecke and G. Langfahl-Klabes and C. Erbel and B. Weber and H. P. Specht and D. L. Moehring and G. Rempe},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0806.2600},
year = {2008}
}