Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physics Today

Atomic clocks for controlling light fields

S. Haroche, M. Brune, J. M. Raimond

Published Dec 28, 2012• 24 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Norman Ramsey’s interferometer has matured into a tool that can nondestructively detect the birth and death of single photons, prepare photon number states via feedback loops, and entangle atoms and photons into Schrödinger-cat states.
DOI
10.1063/pt.3.1856

Related papers

Atom interferometer detects the birth and death of single photons without destroying them

Charles Day

Since the 1980s physicists have used photons to track quantum jumps in single atoms. Now they can use atoms to track quantum jumps of light.

Physics Today•Jun 1, 2007•0 citations

The entanglement of two moving atoms interacting with a single-mode field via a three-photon process

Chao Wu, Mao-Fa Fang

In this paper, the entanglement of two moving atoms induced by a single-mode field via a three-photon process is investigated. It is shown that the entanglement is dependent on the category of the field, the average photon number N , the number p of half-wave lengths of the field mode and the atomic initial state. Also, the sudden death and the sudden birth of the entanglement are detected in this model and the results show that the existence of the sudden death and the sudden birth depends on the parameter and the category of the mode field. In addition, the three-photon process is a higher order nonlinear process.

Chinese Physics B•Feb 1, 2010•18 citations

Observing the quantum jumps of light: birth and death of a photon in a cavity

S. Gleyzes, Stefan Kuhr, Christine Guerlin +6 more

A microscopic system under continuous observation exhibits at random times sudden jumps between its states. The detection of this essential quantum feature requires a quantum non-demolition (QND) measurement1, 2, 3 repeated many times during the system evolution. Quantum jumps of trapped massive particles (electrons, ions or molecules4,5,6,7,8) have been observed, which is not the case of the jumps of light quanta. Usual photodetectors absorb light and are thus unable to detect the same photon twice. They must be replaced by a transparent counter 'seeing' photons without destroying them3. Moreover, the light has to be stored over a duration much longer than the QND detection time. We have fulfilled these challenging conditions and observed photon number quantum jumps. Microwave photons are stored in a superconducting cavity for times in the second range. They are repeatedly probed by a stream of non-absorbing atoms. An atom interferometer measures the atomic dipole phase shift induced by the non-resonant cavity field, so that the final atom state reveals directly the presence of a single photon in the cavity. Sequences of hundreds of atoms highly correlated in the same state, are interrupted by sudden state-switchings. These telegraphic signals record, for the first time, the birth, life and death of individual photons. Applying a similar QND procedure to mesoscopic fields with tens of photons opens new perspectives for the exploration of the quantum to classical boundary9, 10.

•Dec 4, 2006•2 citations

Generating and probing entangled states for optical atomic clocks

Boris Braverman, Akio Kawasaki, Vladan Vuletić

Bulletin of the American Physical Society•May 26, 2016•0 citations

Atom interferometers and optical atomic clocks: New quantum sensors for fundamental physics experiments in space

Guglielmo Maria Tino, L. Cacciapuoti, Kai Bongs +18 more

Nuclear Physics B - Proceedings Supplements•Mar 9, 2007•52 citations

Adaptive Quantum Nondemolition Measurement of a Photon Number

Bruno Peaudecerf, T. Rybarczyk, Stefan Gerlich +5 more

In many quantum measurements, information is acquired incrementally by the successive interaction of meters with the measured system. Adaptive measurements minimize the use of resources (meters) by adjusting the measurement settings according to available information. We demonstrate an adaptive measurement for nondestructive photon counting in a cavity, based on Ramsey interferometry for Rydberg atoms interacting with the field. Tuning the interferometer in real time, we speed up the measurement by up to 45%. Such adaptive methods are promising for quantum metrology, state preparation, and feedback.

Physical Review Letters•Feb 26, 2014•25 citations
In this paper, the entanglement of two moving atoms induced by a single-mode field via a three-photon process is investigated. It is shown that the entanglement is dependent on the category of the field, the average photon number N , the number p of half-wave lengths of the field mode and the atomic initial state. Also, the sudden death and the sudden birth of the entanglement are detected in this model and the results show that the existence of the sudden death and the sudden birth depends on the parameter and the category of the mode field. In addition, the three-photon process is a higher order nonlinear process.
A microscopic system under continuous observation exhibits at random times sudden jumps between its states. The detection of this essential quantum feature requires a quantum non-demolition (QND) measurement1, 2, 3 repeated many times during the system evolution. Quantum jumps of trapped massive particles (electrons, ions or molecules4,5,6,7,8) have been observed, which is not the case of the jumps of light quanta. Usual photodetectors absorb light and are thus unable to detect the same photon twice. They must be replaced by a transparent counter 'seeing' photons without destroying them3. Moreover, the light has to be stored over a duration much longer than the QND detection time. We have fulfilled these challenging conditions and observed photon number quantum jumps. Microwave photons are stored in a superconducting cavity for times in the second range. They are repeatedly probed by a stream of non-absorbing atoms. An atom interferometer measures the atomic dipole phase shift induced by the non-resonant cavity field, so that the final atom state reveals directly the presence of a single photon in the cavity. Sequences of hundreds of atoms highly correlated in the same state, are interrupted by sudden state-switchings. These telegraphic signals record, for the first time, the birth, life and death of individual photons. Applying a similar QND procedure to mesoscopic fields with tens of photons opens new perspectives for the exploration of the quantum to classical boundary9, 10.
In many quantum measurements, information is acquired incrementally by the successive interaction of meters with the measured system. Adaptive measurements minimize the use of resources (meters) by adjusting the measurement settings according to available information. We demonstrate an adaptive measurement for nondestructive photon counting in a cavity, based on Ramsey interferometry for Rydberg atoms interacting with the field. Tuning the interferometer in real time, we speed up the measurement by up to 45%. Such adaptive methods are promising for quantum metrology, state preparation, and feedback.