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Nobel 2012: trapped ions and photons

M. Brune, J. M. Raimond, Claude N. Cohen-Tannoudji

Published Jul 1, 2012• 1 citation

Abstract

18 What are these methods, why are they jointly recognized? The key endeavour in the last century of quantum physics has been the exploration of the coupling between matter and electromagnetic radiation. For a long time, the available experimental techniques were limited to a large number of atoms and a very large number of photons. It was only in thought experiments that one envisioned the manipulation of well-controlled individual quantum systems, dreamed of experimenting with a single atom or a single photon. For instance, Einstein and Bohr once imagined weighing a photon trapped forever in a box, covered by perfect mirrors. These gedankenexperiments and their “ridiculous consequences”, as Schrodinger once stated, played a considerable role in the genesis of quantum physics interpretation. The technical progress made these experiments possible. One can now realize some of the founding fathers' thought experiments. D. Wineland's ion traps and S. Haroche's Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics (CQED) have pioneered this domain, which is now thriving worldwide. The 2012 Nobel prize in physics has been awarded jointly to Serge Haroche (College de France and Ecole Normale Superieure) and David Wineland (National Institute for Standards and Technology, USA) “for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems”. l Michel Brune1, Jean-Michel Raimond1, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji 1,2 DOI: 10.1051/epn/2012601 l 1 Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, ENS, CNRS, UMPC Paris 6, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France l 2 College de France, 11 place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France Nobel 2012: Trapped ions and photons

DOI: 10.1051/epn/2012601

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18 What are these methods, why are they jointly recognized? The key endeavour in the last century of quantum physics has been the exploration of the coupling between matter and electromagnetic radiation. For a long time, the available experimental techniques were limited to a large number of atoms and a very large number of photons. It was only in thought experiments that one envisioned the manipulation of well-controlled individual quantum systems, dreamed of experimenting with a single atom or a single photon. For instance, Einstein and Bohr once imagined weighing a photon trapped forever in a box, covered by perfect mirrors. These gedankenexperiments and their “ridiculous consequences”, as Schrodinger once stated, played a considerable role in the genesis of quantum physics interpretation. The technical progress made these experiments possible. One can now realize some of the founding fathers' thought experiments. D. Wineland's ion traps and S. Haroche's Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics (CQED) have pioneered this domain, which is now thriving worldwide. The 2012 Nobel prize in physics has been awarded jointly to Serge Haroche (College de France and Ecole Normale Superieure) and David Wineland (National Institute for Standards and Technology, USA) “for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems”. l Michel Brune1, Jean-Michel Raimond1, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji 1,2 DOI: 10.1051/epn/2012601 l 1 Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, ENS, CNRS, UMPC Paris 6, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France l 2 College de France, 11 place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France Nobel 2012: Trapped ions and photons

Microwave photons trapped in a superconducting cavity constitute an ideal system to realize some of the thought experiments imagined by the founding fathers of quantum physics. The interaction of these trapped photons with Rydberg atoms crossing the cavity illustrates fundamental aspects of measurement theory. The experiments performed with this ``photon box'' at Ecole Normale Sup\'erieure (ENS) belong to the domain of quantum optics called ``cavity quantum electrodynamics.'' We have realized the nondestructive counting of photons, the recording of field quantum jumps, the preparation and reconstruction of ``Schr\"odinger cat'' states of radiation and the study of their decoherence, which provides a striking illustration of the transition from the quantum to the classical world. These experiments have also led to the demonstration of basic steps in quantum information processing, including the deterministic entanglement of atoms and the realization of quantum gates using atoms and photons as quantum bits. This lecture starts by an introduction stressing the connection between the ENS photon box and the ion-trap experiments of David Wineland, whose accompanying lecture recalls his own contribution to the field of single particle control. I give then a personal account of the early days of cavity quantum electrodynamics before describing the main experiments performed at ENS during the last 20 years and concluding by a discussion comparing our work to other researches dealing with the control of single quantum particles.

Microwave photons trapped in a superconducting cavity constitute an ideal system to realize some of the thought experiments imagined by the founding fathers of quantum physics. The interaction of these trapped photons with Rydberg atoms crossing the cavity illustrates fundamental aspects of measurement theory. The experiments performed with this "photon box" at Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) belong to the domain of quantum optics called "Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics". We have realized the non-destructive counting of photons, the recording of field quantum jumps, the preparation and reconstruction of "Schrödinger cat" states of radiation and the study of their decoherence, which provides a striking illustration of the transition from the quantum to the classical world. These experiments have also led to the demonstration of basic steps in quantum information processing, including the deterministic entanglement of atoms and the realization of quantum gates using atoms and photons as quantum bits. This lecture starts by an introduction stressing the connection between the ENS photon box and the ion trap experiments of David Wineland, whose accompanying lecture recalls his own contribution to the field of single particle control. I give then a personal account of the early days of Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics before describing the main experiments performed at ENS during the last twenty years and concluding by a discussion comparing our work to other researches dealing with the control of single quantum particles.

Microwave photons trapped in a superconducting cavity constitute an ideal system to realize some of the thought experiments imagined by the founding fathers of quantum physics. The interaction of these trapped photons with Rydberg atoms crossing the cavity illustrates fundamental aspects of measurement theory. The experiments performed with this "photon box" at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) belong to the domain of quantum optics called "Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics." We have realized the non-destructive counting of photons, the recording of field quantum jumps, the preparation and reconstruction of "Schrödinger cat" states of radiation and the study of their decoherence, which provides a striking illustration of the transition from the quantum to the classical world. These experiments have also led to the demonstration of basic steps in quantum information processing, including the deterministic entanglement of atoms and the realization of quantum gates using atoms and photons as quantum bits. This lecture starts with an introduction stressing the connection between the ENS photon box and the ion trap experiments of David Wineland, whose accompanying lecture recalls his own contribution to the field of single particle control. I give then a personal account of the early days of Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics before describing the main experiments performed at ENS during the last twenty years and concluding with a discussion comparing our work to other research dealing with the control of single quantum particles.

Microwave photons trapped in a superconducting cavity constitute an ideal system to realize some of the thought experiments imagined by the founding fathers of quantum physics. The interaction of these trapped photons with Rydberg atoms crossing the cavity illustrates fundamental aspects of measurement theory. The experiments performed with this at the Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS) belong to the domain of quantum optics called Quantum Electrodynamics. We have realized the non-destructive counting of photons, the recording of field quantum jumps, the preparation and reconstruction of Schrodinger cat states of radiation and the study of their decoherence, which provides a striking illustration of the transition from the quantum to the classical world. These experiments have also led to the demonstration of basic steps in quantum information processing, including the deterministic entanglement of atoms and the realization of quantum gates using atoms and photons as quantum bits. This lecture starts with an introduction stressing the connection between the ENS photon box and the ion trap experiments of David Wineland, whose accompanying lecture recalls his own contribution to the field of single particle control. I give then a personal account of the early days of Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics before describing the main experiments performed at ENS during the last twenty years and concluding with a discussion comparing our work to other research dealing with the control of single quantum particles.