Interfacing light and single atoms with a lens
Abstract
We characterize the interaction between a single atom or similar microscopic system and a light field via the scattering ratio. For that, we first derive the electrical field in a strongly focused Gaussian light beam, and then consider the atomic response. Following the simple scattering model, the fraction of scattered optical power for a weak coherent probe field leads to unphysical scattering ratios above 1 in the strong focusing regime. A refined model considering interference between exciting and scattered field into finite-sized detectors or optical fibers is presented, and compared to experimental extinction measurements for various focusing strengths.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0804.4861,
title = {Interfacing light and single atoms with a lens},
author = {Meng Khoon Tey and Gleb Maslennikov and Timothy C. H. Liew and Syed Abdullah Aljunid and Florian Huber and Brenda Chng and Zilong Chen and Valerio Scarani and Christian Kurtsiefer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0804.4861},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
22 pages, 7 figures; we provide now a closed solution for field at focus and coupling to single mode optical fibers, and included interference between excitation and scattered light