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arXiv:1704.08741 · Physical Review A

Alignment-dependent decay rate of an atomic dipole near an optical nanofiber

Pablo Solano, Jeffrey A. Grover, Yi‐Shi Xu, Pablo Barberis-Blostein, Jeremy N. Munday, Luis A. Orozco, William D. Phillips, S. L. Rolston

Published Jan 14, 2019• 21 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The spontaneous emission of atoms in the proximity of an optical nanofiber is investigated. A better understanding of light-atom interaction in such an environment is relevant for controlling atomic properties on waveguide-based photonic platforms.
DOI
10.1103/physreva.99.013822

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Complete control of photon emission at the nanoscale is crucial for scalable quantum technology. Control over the polarization of light is traditionally achieved aaa $p\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}s\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i$ using birefringent optics, but this work takes a different approach by intrinsically altering the polarization $e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}m\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}d$ by a source. The authors use a nanofiber's evanescent field to induce radiation of arbitrary polarization by a linear dipole emitter in a waveguide, potentially spanning the entire Poincar\'e sphere. This remarkable manifestation of the mapping of an emitter's purely geometrical degrees of freedom to the polarization states of its emission opens the door to applications in nanophotonics.