431 research outputs found
A Single Atom as a Mirror of an Optical Cavity
By tightly focussing a laser field onto a single cold ion trapped in front of
a far-distant dielectric mirror, we could observe a quantum electrodynamic
effect whereby the ion behaves as the optical mirror of a Fabry-P\'erot cavity.
We show that the amplitude of the laser field is significantly altered due to a
modification of the electromagnetic mode structure around the atom in a novel
regime in which the laser intensity is already changed by the atom alone. e
propose a direct application of this system as a quantum memory for single
photons.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letter
Vacuum-Stimulated Raman Scattering based on Adiabatic Passage in a High-Finesse Optical Cavity
We report on the first observation of stimulated Raman scattering from a
Lambda-type three-level atom, where the stimulation is realized by the vacuum
field of a high-finesse optical cavity. The scheme produces one intracavity
photon by means of an adiabatic passage technique based on a counter-intuitive
interaction sequence between pump laser and cavity field. This photon leaves
the cavity through the less-reflecting mirror. The emission rate shows a
characteristic dependence on the cavity and pump detuning, and the observed
spectra have a sub-natural linewidth. The results are in excellent agreement
with numerical simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
QED with a spherical mirror
We investigate the Quantum-Electro-Dynamic properties of an atomic electron
close to the focus of a spherical mirror. We first show that the spontaneous
emission and excited state level shift of the atom can be fully suppressed with
mirror-atom distances of many wavelengths. A three-dimensional theory predicts
that the spectral density of vacuum fluctuations can indeed vanish within a
volume around the atom, with the use of a far distant mirror
covering only half of the atomic emission solid angle. The modification of
these QED atomic properties is also computed as a function of the mirror size
and large effects are found for only moderate numerical apertures. We also
evaluate the long distance ground state energy shift (Casimir-Polder shift) and
find that it scales as at the focus of a hemi-spherical mirror
of radius , as opposed to the well known scaling law for an
atom at a distance from an infinite plane mirror. Our results are relevant
for investigations of QED effects, and also free space coupling to single atoms
using high-numerical aperture lenses.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
Electromagnetically Induced Transparency from a Single Atom in Free Space
We report an absorption spectroscopy experiment and the observation of
electromagnetically induced transparency from a single trapped atom. We focus a
weak and narrowband Gaussian light beam onto an optically cooled Barium ion
using a high numerical aperture lens. Extinction of this beam is observed with
measured values of up to 1.3 %. We demonstrate electromagnetically induced
transparency of the ion by tuning a strong control beam over a two-photon
resonance in a three-level lambda-type system. The probe beam extinction is
inhibited by more than 75 % due to population trapping.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Transition from antibunching to bunching in cavity QED
The photon statistics of the light emitted from an atomic ensemble into a
single field mode of an optical cavity is investigated as a function of the
number of atoms. The light is produced in a Raman transition driven by a pump
laser and the cavity vacuum [M.Hennrich et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 4672
(2000)], and a recycling laser is employed to repeat this process continuously.
For weak driving, a smooth transition from antibunching to bunching is found
for about one intra-cavity atom. Remarkably, the bunching peak develops within
the antibunching dip. For saturated driving and a growing number of atoms, the
bunching amplitude decreases and the bunching duration increases, indicating
the onset of Raman lasing.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Chirality distribution and transition energies of carbon nanotubes
From resonant Raman scattering on isolated nanotubes we obtained the optical
transition energies, the radial breathing mode frequency and Raman intensity of
both metallic and semiconducting tubes. We unambiguously assigned the chiral
index (n_1,n_2) of approximately 50 nanotubes based solely on a third-neighbor
tight-binding Kataura plot and find omega_RBM=214.4cm^-1nm/d+18.7cm^-1. In
contrast to luminescence experiments we observe all chiralities including
zig-zag tubes. The Raman intensities have a systematic chiral-angle dependence
confirming recent ab-initio calculations.Comment: 4 pages, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let
Interferometric thermometry of a single sub-Doppler cooled atom
Efficient self-interference of single-photons emitted by a sideband-cooled
Barium ion is demonstrated. First, the technical tools for performing efficient
coupling to the quadrupolar transition of a single Ba ion are
presented. We show efficient Rabi oscillations of the internal state of the ion
using a highly stabilized 1.76 fiber laser resonant with the
S-D transition. We then show sideband cooling of the ion's
motional modes and use it as a means to enhance the interference contrast of
the ion with its mirror-image to up to 90%. Last, we measure the dependence of
the self-interference contrast on the mean phonon number, thereby demonstrating
the potential of the set-up for single-atom thermometry close to the motional
ground state.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Contacting single bundles of carbon nanotubes with alternating electric fields
Single bundles of carbon nanotubes have been selectively deposited from
suspensions onto sub-micron electrodes with alternating electric fields. We
explore the resulting contacts using several solvents and delineate the
differences between Au and Ag as electrode materials. Alignment of the bundles
between electrodes occurs at frequencies above 1 kHz. Control over the number
of trapped bundles is achieved by choosing an electrode material which
interacts strongly with the chemical functional groups of the carbon nanotubes,
with superior contacts being formed with Ag electrodes.Comment: 4 pages, RevTe
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