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Interference and dynamics of light from a distance-controlled atom pair in an optical cavity

Nature Photonics volume 10, pages 303–306 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Interference is central to quantum physics and occurs when indistinguishable paths exist, as in a double-slit experiment. Replacing the two slits with single atoms1 introduces optical nonlinearities for which non-trivial interference phenomena are predicted2,3,4,5,6. Their observation, however, has been hampered by difficulties in preparing the required atomic distribution, controlling the optical phases and detecting the faint light. Here we overcome all of these experimental challenges by combining an optical lattice for atom localization, an imaging system with single-site resolution and an optical resonator for light steering. We observe resonator-induced saturation of resonance fluorescence7,8 for constructive interference and non-zero emission with huge photon bunching for destructive interference. The latter is explained by atomic saturation and photon-pair generation, similar to predictions for free-space atoms3,4,5,9. Our experimental setting allows realization of the Tavis–Cummings model10 for any number of atoms and photons, exploration of fundamental aspects of light–matter interaction11,12,13,14,15 and implementation of new quantum information processing protocols16,17,18,19.

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Figure 1: Experimental set-up.
Figure 2: Energy spectrum of the atom–cavity system.
Figure 3: Photon-emission rate and g(2)(0) photon statistics as a function of ɸ.
Figure 4: Emission dynamics for in- and out-of-phase coupling.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Kochanke for the design of the objective, F. Saworski and C. Hahn for contributions in an early stage of the experiment and M. Uphoff for discussions. This work was supported by the European Union integrated project Simulators and Interfaces with Quantum Systems (SIQS), by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, Verbund QK_QuOReP and Q.com-Q) and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft via the excellence cluster Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM).

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  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, Garching, 85748, Germany

    A. Neuzner, M. Körber, O. Morin, S. Ritter & G. Rempe

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  1. A. Neuzner
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  2. M. Körber
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  3. O. Morin
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Contributions

A.N., G.R. and S.R. conceived the experiment. A.N., M.K. and O.M. performed the experiment. A.N., M.K. and S.R. evaluated the data. All authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to S. Ritter.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Neuzner, A., Körber, M., Morin, O. et al. Interference and dynamics of light from a distance-controlled atom pair in an optical cavity. Nature Photon 10, 303–306 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.19

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