Related papers: Single photons by quenching the vacuum
Sonoluminescence is explained in terms of quantum radiation by moving interfaces between media of different polarizability. In a stationary dielectric the zero-point fluctuations of the electromagnetic field excite virtual two-photon states…
Vacuum-stimulated Raman transitions are driven between two magnetic substates of a rubidium-87 atom strongly coupled to an optical cavity. A magnetic field lifts the degeneracy of these states, and the atom is alternately exposed to laser…
Quantum phase transitions are often embodied by the critical behavior of purely quantum quantities such as entanglement or quantum fluctuations. In critical regions, we underline a general scaling relation between the entanglement entropy…
We present a non-relativistic theory of quantum radiation generated by shaking a two-level atom in vacuum. Such radiation has the same origin of photon emission in dynamical Casimir effect. By performing a time-dependent "dressing"…
The spectrum of vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field is determined solely from first physical principles and can be seen as a fundamental property that qualifies as a primary radiation standard. We demonstrate that the amplitude…
Optical nonlinearities typically require macroscopic media, thereby making their implementation at the quantum level an outstanding challenge. Here we demonstrate a nonlinearity for one atom enclosed by two highly reflecting mirrors. We…
An analysis of the energy exchange by photons is presented based on single-photon Gedanken experiments and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Excluding hidden variable properties of a single photon one has to accept that the total photon…
We present a theoretical analysis of nearly monochromatic light propagation through a gas of two-level atoms using the Heisenberg-Langevin equation method. Our focus is on the evolution of the photon annihilation operator and its impact on…
Semiconductor quantum-dot cavity systems are promising sources for solid-state based on-demand generation of single photons for quantum communication. Commonly, the spectral characteristics of the emitted single photon are fixed by system…
In quantum electrodynamics, photon-photon scattering can be the result of the exchange of virtual electron-positron pairs. This gives rise to a non-trivial dispersion relation for a single photon moving on a background of electromagnetic…
The observation of quantum dot resonance fluorescence enabled a new solid-state approach to generating single photons with a bandwidth almost as narrow as the natural linewidth of a quantum dot transition. Here, we operate in the Heitler…
Heisenberg showed in the early days of quantum theory that the uncertainty principle follows as a direct consequence of the quantization of electromagnetic radiation in the form of photons. As we show here the gravitational interaction of…
Over the last decades, quantum optics has evolved from high quality factor cavities in the early experiments toward new cavity designs involving leaky modes. Despite very reliable models, in the concepts of cavity quantum electrodynamics,…
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle results in one of the strangest quantum behaviors: an oscillator can never truly be at rest. Even in its lowest energy state, at a temperature of absolute zero, its position and momentum are still subject…
Particle-antiparticle pairs are predicted by quantum field theory to appear as vacuum fluctuations. The model of the vacuum used here is postulated to have the following properties: To minimize the violation of conservation energy allowed…
The interaction of a single-photon wave packet with an initially excited two-level atom in free space is studied in semiclassical and quantum approaches. It is shown that the final state of the field does not contain doubly occupied modes.…
Three-level atoms in lambda configuration find diverse applications in quantum information processing, and a promising way to manipulate their quantum states is with single-photon pulses propagating in a waveguide (which can be…
The theoretical community has found interest in the ability of a two-level atom to generate a strong many-body interaction with light under pulsed excitation. Single-photon generation is the most well-known effect, where a short Gaussian…
We study light scattering of single atoms in free space and discuss the results in terms of atom-photon entanglement and which-way information. Using ultracold atoms released from an optical lattice, we realize a Gedanken experiment which…
We report on the efficient generation of single photons, making use of spontaneous Raman scattering in a single trapped ion. The photons are collected through in-vacuum high-NA objectives. Photon frequency, polarization and temporal shape…