Deterministic single-photon source from a single ion

We realize a deterministic single-photon source from one and the same calcium ion interacting with a high-finesse optical cavity. Photons are created in the cavity with efficiency (88 +- 17)%, a tenfold improvement over previous cavity-ion sources. Results of the second-order correlation function are presented, demonstrating a high suppression of two-photon events limited only by background counts. The cavity photon pulse shape is obtained, with good agreement between experiment and simulation. Moreover, theoretical analysis of the temporal evolution of the atomic populations provides relevant information about the dynamics of the process and opens the way to future investigations of a coherent atom-photon interface

Decoherence-free preparation of Dicke states of trapped ions by collective stimulated Raman adiabatic passage

We propose a simple technique for the generation of arbitrary-sized Dicke states in a chain of trapped ions. The method uses global addressing of the entire chain by two pairs of delayed but partially overlapping laser pulses to engineer a collective adiabatic passage along a multi-ion dark state. Our technique, which is a many-particle generalization of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP), is decoherence-free with respect to spontaneous emission and robust against moderate fluctuations in the experimental parameters. Furthermore, because the process is very rapid, the effects of heating are almost negligible under realistic experimental conditions. We predict that the overall fidelity of synthesis of a Dicke state involving ten ions sharing two excitations should approach 98% with currently achievable experimental parameters.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Topological transition of a non-Markovian dissipative quantum walk

We extend non-Hermitian topological quantum walks on a Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) lattice [M. S. Rudner and L. Levitov, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 065703 (2009)] to the case of non-Markovian evolution. This non-Markovian model is established by coupling each unit cell in the SSH lattice to a reservoir formed by a quasi-continuum of levels. We find a topological transition in this model even in the case of non-Markovian evolution, where the walker may visit the reservoir and return to the SSH lattice at a later time. The existence of a topological transition does, however, depend on the low-frequency properties of the reservoir, characterized by a spectral density $J(\epsilon)\propto |\epsilon|^\alpha$. In particular, we find a robust topological transition for a sub-Ohmic ($\alpha<1$) and Ohmic ($\alpha=1$) reservoir, but no topological transition for a super-Ohmic ($\alpha>1$) reservoir. This behavior is directly related to the well-known localization transition for the spin-boson model. We confirm the presence of non-Markovian dynamics by explicitly evaluating a measure of Markovianity for this model.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures; v2: Minor changes to address referee comment

Non-Hermitian dynamics in lossy photonic waveguide systems

This thesis deals with the theoretical description of photonic waveguides for the simulation of non-Abelian gauge fields as well as the study of non-Hermitian systems. The artifical gauge fields emerge from a closed, adiabatic curve in the parameter manifold of a waveguide system with degeneracies. An optimisation process allows to find ideal parameters of an experimental implementation. Additionally, two Lie-algebraic methods that solve the quantum master equation of an arbitrary, lossy waveguide system are developed, which allow to study non-Hermitian systems, e.g. parity-time-symmetry