Related papers: An optical kaleidoscope using a single atom
We present a novel technique in which the total internal quantum state of an atom may be reconstructed via the measurement of the momentum transferred to an atom following its interaction with a near resonant travelling wave laser beam. We…
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful technique for investigating the microscopic properties and dynamics of physical systems. In this work we demonstrate state-sensitive MRI of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. Single-shot…
We investigate the optical detection of single atoms held in a microscopic atom trap close to a surface. Laser light is guided by optical fibers or optical micro-structures via the atom to a photo-detector. Our results suggest that with…
Optical cavities are an enabling technology of modern quantum science: from their essential role in the operation of lasers, to applications as fly-wheels in atomic clocks and interaction-enhancing components in quantum optics experiments,…
Ramsey spectroscopy in large, dense ensembles of ultra-cold atoms trapped in optical lattices suffers from dipole-dipole interaction induced shifts and collective superradiance limiting its precision and accuracy. We propose a novel…
A single atom in free space can have a strong influence on a light beam and a single photon can have a strong effect on a single atom in free space. Regarding this interaction, two conceptually different questions can be asked: can a single…
The temporal evolution of an atomic wave packet interacting with object and reference electromagnetic waves is investigated beyond the weak perturbation of the initial state. It is shown that the diffraction of an ultracold atomic beam by…
When a single two-level atom interacts with a pair of Laguerre-Gaussian beams with opposite helicity, this leads to an efficient exchange of angular momentum between the light field and the atom. When the radial motion is trapped by an…
Very low intensity and phase fluctuations are present in a bright light field such as a laser beam. These subtle quantum fluctuations may be used to encode quantum information. Although intensity is easily measured with common…
We consider squeezing of one component of the collective spin vector of an atomic ensemble inside an optical cavity. The atoms interact with a cavity mode, and the squeezing is obtained by probing the state of the light field that is…
A unidirectional optical oscillator is built by using a liquid crystal light-valve that couples a pump beam with the modes of a nearly spherical cavity. For sufficiently high pump intensity, the cavity field presents a complex…
Optical nonreciprocity is important in photonic information processing to route the optical signal or prevent the reverse flow of noise. By adopting the strong nonlinearity associated with a few atoms in a strongly coupled cavity QED system…
Typically discussed in the context of optics, caustics are envelopes of classical trajectories (rays) where the density of states diverges, resulting in pronounced observable features such as bright points, curves, and extended networks of…
Photonic lattices - arrays of optical waveguides - are powerful platforms for simulating a range of phenomena, including topological phases. While probing dynamics is possible in these systems, by reinterpreting the propagation direction as…
In order to avoid collisions with space debris, the near Earth orbit must be continuously scanned by either ground- or spaced-based facilities. For the low Earth orbit, radar telescopes are the workhorse for this task, especially due to…
We report the use of broadband heterodyne spectroscopy to perform continuous measurement of the interaction energy between one atom and a high-finesse optical cavity, during individual transit events of $\sim 250$ $\mu$s duration.…
We investigate the quantum electrodynamics of a single two-level atom located at the focus of a parabolic cavity. We first work out the modifications of the spontaneous emission induced by the presence of this boundary in the optical…
The project OptoTracker aims to investigate a new approach to track charged particles in a scintillating material, by using the optical signal. Our idea is to reconstruct the trajectory of a charged particle by collecting the scintillation…
We propose to turn two resonant distant cavities effectively into one by coupling them via an optical fiber which is coated with two-level atoms [Franson et al., Phys. Rev. A 70, 062302 (2004)]. The purpose of the atoms is to destructively…
Generally, wave field reconstructions obtained by phase-retrieval algorithms are noisy, blurred and corrupted by various artifacts such as irregular waves, spots, etc. These disturbances, arising due to many factors such as non-idealities…