Systemic approach to the question of the optical resonator

V. N. Lugovoǐ

The properties are considered of an optical resonator excited by an external light beam and filled with a non-linear (Raman or Mandel'stam-Brillouin active) medium for single-mode (exciting and the first Stokes) radiation components in the resonator. The form of the hysteresis of light intensity inside the resonator and of the intensity of the beam transmitted through the resonator for both the radiation components on the variation of the external beam intensity are investigated. Also, periodic pulsations of the radiation component intensities are discussed and the phase modulation of the components at the regimes in question is predicted, the conditions for these pulsations being derived. Conditions are also found under which the resonator amplifies the amplitude (phase) modulation of the external light beam and the properties of the regimes of the amplification are also discussed. The use of the resonator in question as the element of optical memory, a switching device, the generator of optical pulses and optical ‘transistor’ is proposed.

Stephen Lynch

Simon Heugel, Alessandro S. Villar, Markus Sondermann +2 more

A single atom in free space can have a strong influence on a light beam and a single photon can have a strong effect on a single atom in free space. Regarding this interaction, two conceptually different questions can be asked: can a single atom fully absorb a single photon and can a single atom fully reflect a light beam. The conditions for achieving the full effect in either case are different. Here we discuss related questions in the context of an optical resonator. When shaping a laser pulse properly it will be fully absorbed by an optical resonator, i.e., no light will be reflected and all the pulse energy will accumulate inside the resonator before it starts leaking out. We show in detail that in this case the temporal pulse shape has to match the time-reversed pulse obtained by the cavity's free decay. On the other hand a resonator, made of highly reflecting mirrors which normally reflect a large portion of any incident light, may fully transmit the light, as long as the light is narrow band and resonant with the cavity. The analogy is the single atom-normally letting most of the light pass-which under special conditions may fully reflect the incident light beam. Using this analogy we are able to study the effects of practical experimental limitations in the atom-photon coupling, such as finite pulses, bandwidths, and solid angle coverage, and to use the optical resonator as a test bed for the implementation of the quantum experiment.

Stephen Lynch

V. K. Ablekov, Vadim S. Belyaev, V. P. Vasil'ev +3 more

S. Heugel, A. S. Villar, M. Sondermann +2 more

A single atom in free space can have a strong influence on a light beam and a single photon can have a strong effect on a single atom in free space. Regarding this interaction, two conceptually different questions can be asked: can a single atom fully absorb a single photon and can a single atom fully reflect a light beam. The conditions for achieving the full effect in either case are different. Here we discuss related questions in the context of an optical resonator. When shaping a laser pulse properly it will be fully absorbed by an optical resonator, i.e., no light will be reflected and all the pulse energy will accumulate inside the resonator before it starts leaking out. We show in detail that in this case the temporal pulse shape has to match the time-reversed pulse obtained by the cavity’s free decay. On the other hand a resonator, made of highly reflecting mirrors which normally reflect a large portion of any incident light, may fully transmit the light, as long as the light is narrow band and resonant with the cavity. The analogy is the single atom—normally letting most of the light pass—which under special conditions may fully reflect the incident light beam. Using this analogy we are able to study the effects of practical experimental limitations in the atom-photon coupling, such as finite pulses, bandwidths, and solid angle coverage, and to use the optical resonator as a test bed for the implementation of the quantum experiment.