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arXiv:0905.1015 · Physical Review Letters

Strong Coupling of a Mechanical Oscillator and a Single Atom

Klemens Hammerer, Margareta Wallquist, Claudiu Genes, Markus Ludwig, Florian Marquardt, Philipp Treutlein, P. Zoller, J. Ye, Harry J. Kimble

Published Aug 6, 2009• 224 citations
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Abstract

We propose and analyze a setup to achieve strong coupling between a single trapped atom and a mechanical oscillator. The interaction between the motion of the atom and the mechanical oscillator is mediated by a quantized light field in a laser driven high-finesse cavity. In particular, we show that high fidelity transfer of quantum states between the atom and the mechanical oscillator is in reach for existing or near future experimental parameters. Our setup provides the basic toolbox from atomic physics for coherent manipulation, preparation, and measurement of micromechanical and nanomechanical oscillators.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.103.063005

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Abstract Single atoms coupled to a cavity offer unique opportunities as quantum optomechanical devices because of their small mass and strong interaction with light. A particular regime of interest in optomechanics is that of ‘single-photon strong coupling’, where motional displacements on the order of the zero-point uncertainty are sufficient to shift the cavity resonance frequency by more than its linewidth. In many cavity QED platforms, however, this is unfeasible due to the large cavity linewidth. Here, we propose an alternative route in such systems, which instead relies on the coupling of atomic motion to the much narrower cavity-dressed atomic resonance frequency. We discuss and optimize the conditions in which the scattering properties of single photons from the atom-cavity system become highly entangled with the atomic motional wave function. We also analyze the prominent observable features of this optomechanical strong coupling, which include a per-photon motional heating that is significantly larger than the single-photon recoil energy, as well as mechanically-induced oscillations in time of the second-order correlation function of the emitted light. This physics should be realizable in current experimental setups, such as trapped atoms coupled to photonic crystal cavities, and more broadly opens the door to realizing qualitatively different phenomena beyond what has been observed in optomechanical systems thus far.
The coherent interaction between a laser-driven single trapped atom and an optical high-finesse resonator allows one to produce entangled multiphoton light pulses on demand. The mechanism is based on the mechanical effect of light. The degree of entanglement can be controlled through the parameters of the laser excitation. Experimental realization of the scheme is within reach of current technology. A variation of the technique allows for controlled generation of entangled subsequent pulses, with the atomic motion serving as intermediate memory of the quantum state.
We show that a single, trapped, laser-driven atom in a high-finesse optical cavity allows for the quantum-coherent generation of entangled light pulses on demand. We report the detailed description of schemes for generating simultaneous and temporally separated pulse pairs, presented in [G. Morigi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 96, 023601 (2006)]. The mechanical effect of the laser excitation on the quantum motion of the cold trapped atom mediates the entangling interaction between two cavity modes and between the two subsequent pulses, respectively. The entanglement is of EPR-type, and its degree can be controlled through external parameters. At the end of the generation process the atom is decorrelated from the light field. Possible experimental implementations of the proposals are discussed.