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Strong interactions of single atoms and photons near a dielectric boundary

Nature Physics volume 7, pages 159–165 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

Cavity quantum electrodynamics provides the setting for quantum control of strong interactions between a single atom and one photon. Many such atom–cavity systems interacting by coherent exchanges of single photons could be the basis for scalable quantum networks. However, moving beyond current proof-of-principle experiments involving just one or two conventional optical cavities requires the localization of individual atoms at distances ≲100 nm from a resonator’s surface. In this regime an atom can be strongly coupled to a single intracavity photon while at the same time experiencing significant radiative interactions with the dielectric boundaries of the resonator. Here, we report using real-time detection and high-bandwidth feedback to select and monitor single caesium atoms located ∼100 nm from the surface of a microtoroidal optical resonator. Strong radiative interactions of atom and cavity field probe atomic motion through the evanescent field of the resonator and reveal both the significant role of Casimir–Polder attraction and the manifestly quantum nature of the atom–cavity dynamics.

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Figure 1: Radiative interactions and optical potentials for an atom near the surface of a toroidal resonator.
Figure 2: Observation and simulation of atomic transits within the evanescent field of the microtoroidal resonator for Δca=Δpa=0.
Figure 3: Dynamics and trajectories for strongly coupled atoms moving in surface and dipole potentials {Us,Ud}.
Figure 4: Transmission T(ωp) and reflection R(ωp) spectra for single atoms coupled to a microtoroidal resonator.
Figure 5: Photon statistics for localized atoms with Δca=0,Δpa=0.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from NSF, DoD NSSEFF programme, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, ARO and IARPA. N.P.S. acknowledges support of the Caltech Tolman Postdoctoral Fellowship. H.L. thanks the Center for the Physics of Information. Toroid fabrication was done in the Kavli Nanoscience Institute. The authors thank A. S. Parkins, J. Ye and P. Zoller for illuminating discussions.

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Author notes

  1. D. J. Alton and N. P. Stern: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics 12-33, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

    D. J. Alton, N. P. Stern & H. J. Kimble

  2. Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan

    Takao Aoki

  3. T. J. Watson Laboratory of Applied Physics 128-95, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

    H. Lee, E. Ostby & K. J. Vahala

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  1. D. J. Alton
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  2. N. P. Stern
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Contributions

T.A. and H.J.K. conceived the experiment. D.J.A. and N.P.S. carried out the measurements, analysed data and implemented simulation modelling. H.L., E.O. and K.J.V. fabricated microtoroids and provided expertise for tapered fibre coupling. D.J.A., N.P.S. and H.J.K. prepared the manuscript.

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Correspondence to H. J. Kimble.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Alton, D., Stern, N., Aoki, T. et al. Strong interactions of single atoms and photons near a dielectric boundary. Nature Phys 7, 159–165 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1837

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