Entanglement generated between a single atom and a laser pulse (8 pages)

David Petrosyan, Michael Fleischhauer, Inbal Friedler

Michael Chapman, Baoqing Sun

Hong Chen Guo, Rui Guo

Grzegorz Chimczak

Giovanna Morigi, Jürgen Eschner, Stefano Mancini +1 more

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.

Giovanna Morigi, Jürgen Eschner, Stefano Mancini +1 more

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.