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New Journal of Physics

The creation and detection of arbitrary photon number states using cavity QED

Benjamin T. H. Varcoe, S. Brattke, HERBERT WALTHER

Published Jul 30, 2004• 43 citations

Abstract

Many applications in quantum information or quantum computing require radiation with a fixed number of photons (called Fock or number states) and this special issue demonstrates the real increase in interest in this area. In this paper, we review three recent papers in which we discussed the creation of photon number states in the micromaser and discuss new results. In the first experiment, Fock states were created in steady state via trapping states. Some new results are presented in this section showing a remarkable improvement of our ability to create these states. We then review a second method of dynamic Fock state creation using state reduction of lower state atoms. In this experiment, we also observed the purity of the Fock state that was created via the observation of Rabi oscillations of a probe atom. Finally, we discuss the results of the third experiment that we performed which was an experimental demonstration of a method of creating Fock states on demand.

DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/6/1/097

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The widely discussed applications in quantum information and quantum cryptography require radiation sources capable of producing a fixed number of photons. This paper reviews the work performed in our laboratory to produce these fields on demand. Two different methods are discussed. The first is based on the one-atom maser or micromaser operating under the conditions of the so-called trapping states. In this situation the micromaser stabilises to a photon number state. Recently, we also succeeded in determining the Wigner function of a single-photon state. The second device, recently realised in our laboratory, uses a single trapped ion in an optical cavity. 1

The widely discussed applications in quantum information and quantum cryptography require radiation sources capable of producing a fixed number of photons. This paper reviews the work performed in our laboratory to produce these fields on demand. Two different methods are discussed. The first is based on the one-atom maser or micromaser operating under the conditions of the so-called trapping states. In this situation the micromaser stabilises to a photon number state. Recently, we also succeeded in determining the Wigner function of a single-photon state. The second device, recently realized in our laboratory, uses a single trapped ion in an optical cavity.

Abstract The widely discussed applications in quantum information and quantum cryptography require radiation sources capable of producing a fixed number of photons. This paper reviews the work performed in our laboratory to produce these fields on demand. Two different methods are discussed. The first is based on the one‐atom maser or the micromaser operating under the conditions of the so‐called trapping states. In this situation the micromaser stabilises to a photon number state. The second device uses a single ion in an optical cavity. The latter setup was recently realised in our laboratory.

A wide range of applications in quantum information and quantum cryptography requires radiation sources capable of producing a fixed number of photons. This paper reviews the work performed in our laboratory to produce these fields on demand. Two different methods are discussed. The first is based on the one-atom maser or micromaser operating under the conditions of the so-called trapping states. In this situation, the micromaser field stabilizes to a photon number state. Recently, we also succeeded in determining the Wigner function of a single-photon state. The second device, recently realized in our laboratory, uses a single trapped ion in an optical cavity.