European Quantum Electronics Conference (EQEC)
Elementary quantum-network links and nodes
Axel Kuhn, Markus Hennrich, M. Hijlkema, P. Krok, Thomas Legero, S. Nußmann, Felix Rohde, B. Weber, Tatjana Wilk, Gerhard Rempe
Abstract
The paper reports on the experimental demonstration of elementary quantum-network links and nodes with narrowband and transform-limited single-photon pulses that cannot be distinguished from one another. The photon source is realized in form of a strongly coupled atom-cavity system and it employs a controlled energy exchange between the atom and the quantized light field of the cavity. This is accomplished by laser pulses adiabatically driving one branch of a Raman transition in a /spl Lambda/-type three-level atom, which is located in a high-finesse optical cavity resonant with the other branch of the transition. The transition goes hand-in-hand with a change of the photon number in the cavity.