Optical counterpart of the Foucault pendulum

The twin beam vortex interferometer with phase-conjugating mirror in rotating reference frame is analyzed. Using the concept of the $ideal$ phase-conjugating mirror it is shown that motion of helical interference pattern may be used for detection of the slow rotations. The pattern motion is due to exchange of angular momenta between photons and interferometer. The conditions of experimental realization of such rotation sensor are discussed and $scaling$ relations for geometric parameters, coherent backscattering and angular momenta transformations are obtained.Comment: 9 pages,3 figures, submitted to referred journa

Interfacing single photons and single quantum dots with photonic nanostructures

Photonic nanostructures provide means of tailoring the interaction between light and matter and the past decade has witnessed a tremendous experimental and theoretical progress in this subject. In particular, the combination with semiconductor quantum dots has proven successful. This manuscript reviews quantum optics with excitons in single quantum dots embedded in photonic nanostructures. The ability to engineer the light-matter interaction strength in integrated photonic nanostructures enables a range of fundamental quantum-electrodynamics experiments on, e.g., spontaneous-emission control, modified Lamb shifts, and enhanced dipole-dipole interaction. Furthermore, highly efficient single-photon sources and giant photon nonlinearities may be implemented with immediate applications for photonic quantum-information processing. The review summarizes the general theoretical framework of photon emission including the role of dephasing processes, and applies it to photonic nanostructures of current interest, such as photonic-crystal cavities and waveguides, dielectric nanowires, and plasmonic waveguides. The introduced concepts are generally applicable in quantum nanophotonics and apply to a large extent also to other quantum emitters, such as molecules, nitrogen vacancy ceters, or atoms. Finally, the progress and future prospects of applications in quantum-information processing are considered.Comment: Updated version resubmitted to Reviews of Modern Physic

Large atom number dual-species magneto-optical trap for fermionic 6Li and 40K atoms

We present the design, implementation and characterization of a dual-species magneto-optical trap (MOT) for fermionic 6Li and 40K atoms with large atom numbers. The MOT simultaneously contains 5.2x10^9 6Li-atoms and 8.0x10^9 40K-atoms, which are continuously loaded by a Zeeman slower for 6Li and a 2D-MOT for 40K. The atom sources induce capture rates of 1.2x10^9 6Li-atoms/s and 1.4x10^9 40K-atoms/s. Trap losses due to light-induced interspecies collisions of ~65% were observed and could be minimized to ~10% by using low magnetic field gradients and low light powers in the repumping light of both atomic species. The described system represents the starting point for the production of a large-atom number quantum degenerate Fermi-Fermi mixture