17 research outputs found
Atomic cluster state build up with macroscopic heralding
We describe a measurement-based state preparation scheme for the efficient
build up of cluster states in atom-cavity systems. As in a recent proposal for
the generation of maximally entangled atom pairs [Metz et al., Phys. Rev. Lett.
97, 040503 (2006)], we use an electron shelving technique to avoid the
necessity for the detection of single photons. Instead, the successful fusion
of smaller into larger clusters is heralded by an easy-to-detect macroscopic
fluorescence signal. High fidelities are achieved even in the vicinity of the
bad cavity limit and are essentially independent of the concrete size of the
system parameters.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures; minor changes, mainly clarification
Nano Positioning of Single Atoms in a Micro Cavity
The coupling of individual atoms to a high-finesse optical cavity is
precisely controlled and adjusted using a standing-wave dipole-force trap, a
challenge for strong atom-cavity coupling. Ultracold Rubidium atoms are first
loaded into potential minima of the dipole trap in the center of the cavity.
Then we use the trap as a conveyor belt that we set into motion perpendicular
to the cavity axis. This allows us to repetitively move atoms out of and back
into the cavity mode with a repositioning precision of 135 nm. This makes
possible to either selectively address one atom of a string of atoms by the
cavity, or to simultaneously couple two precisely separated atoms to a higher
mode of the cavity.Comment: 4 pages 5 figure
A Single-Photon Server with Just One Atom
Neutral atoms are ideal objects for the deterministic processing of quantum
information. Entanglement operations have been performed by photon exchange or
controlled collisions. Atom-photon interfaces were realized with single atoms
in free space or strongly coupled to an optical cavity. A long standing
challenge with neutral atoms, however, is to overcome the limited observation
time. Without exception, quantum effects appeared only after ensemble
averaging. Here we report on a single-photon source with one-and-only-one atom
quasi permanently coupled to a high-finesse cavity. Quasi permanent refers to
our ability to keep the atom long enough to, first, quantify the
photon-emission statistics and, second, guarantee the subsequent performance as
a single-photon server delivering up to 300,000 photons for up to 30 seconds.
This is achieved by a unique combination of single-photon generation and atom
cooling. Our scheme brings truly deterministic protocols of quantum information
science with light and matter within reach.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Ground state cooling in a bad cavity
We study the mechanical effects of light on an atom trapped in a harmonic
potential when an atomic dipole transition is driven by a laser and it is
strongly coupled to a mode of an optical resonator. We investigate the cooling
dynamics in the bad cavity limit, focussing on the case in which the effective
transition linewidth is smaller than the trap frequency, hence when sideband
cooling could be implemented. We show that quantum correlations between the
mechanical actions of laser and cavity field can lead to an enhancement of the
cooling efficiency with respect to sideband cooling. Such interference effects
are found when the resonator losses prevail over spontaneous decay and over the
rates of the coherent processes characterizing the dynamics.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures; J. Mod. Opt. (2007
Cavity QED with a Bose-Einstein condensate
Cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity QED) describes the coherent
interaction between matter and an electromagnetic field confined within a
resonator structure, and is providing a useful platform for developing concepts
in quantum information processing. By using high-quality resonators, a strong
coupling regime can be reached experimentally in which atoms coherently
exchange a photon with a single light-field mode many times before dissipation
sets in. This has led to fundamental studies with both microwave and optical
resonators. To meet the challenges posed by quantum state engineering and
quantum information processing, recent experiments have focused on laser
cooling and trapping of atoms inside an optical cavity. However, the tremendous
degree of control over atomic gases achieved with Bose-Einstein condensation
has so far not been used for cavity QED. Here we achieve the strong coupling of
a Bose-Einstein condensate to the quantized field of an ultrahigh-finesse
optical cavity and present a measurement of its eigenenergy spectrum. This is a
conceptually new regime of cavity QED, in which all atoms occupy a single mode
of a matter-wave field and couple identically to the light field, sharing a
single excitation. This opens possibilities ranging from quantum communication
to a wealth of new phenomena that can be expected in the many-body physics of
quantum gases with cavity-mediated interactions.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures; version accepted for publication in Nature;
updated Fig. 4; changed atom numbers due to new calibratio
Towards quantum computing with single atoms and optical cavities on atom chips
We report on recent developments in the integration of optical
microresonators into atom chips and describe some fabrication and
implementation challenges. We also review theoretical proposals for quantum
computing with single atoms based on the observation of photons leaking through
the cavity mirrors. The use of measurements to generate entanglement can result
in simpler, more robust and scalable quantum computing architectures. Indeed,
we show that quantum computing with atom-cavity systems is feasible even in the
presence of relatively large spontaneous decay rates and finite photon detector
efficiencies.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure
An Elementary Quantum Network of Single Atoms in Optical Cavities
Quantum networks are distributed quantum many-body systems with tailored
topology and controlled information exchange. They are the backbone of
distributed quantum computing architectures and quantum communication. Here we
present a prototype of such a quantum network based on single atoms embedded in
optical cavities. We show that atom-cavity systems form universal nodes capable
of sending, receiving, storing and releasing photonic quantum information.
Quantum connectivity between nodes is achieved in the conceptually most
fundamental way: by the coherent exchange of a single photon. We demonstrate
the faithful transfer of an atomic quantum state and the creation of
entanglement between two identical nodes in independent laboratories. The
created nonlocal state is manipulated by local qubit rotation. This efficient
cavity-based approach to quantum networking is particularly promising as it
offers a clear perspective for scalability, thus paving the way towards
large-scale quantum networks and their applications.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure