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New Journal of Physics

A single-photon source based on a single Ca+ion

Christian Maurer, Christoph Becher, Carlos Russo, Jürgen Eschner, R. Blatt

Published Jul 30, 2004• 55 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We propose a deterministic source of single photons based on the vacuum-stimulated Raman transition of a single Ca + ion trapped inside a high finesse cavity. Assuming realistic experimental parameters, the efficiency of photon emission into the cavity mode reaches 95%.
DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/6/1/094

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A sequence of single photons is emitted on demand from a single three-level atom strongly coupled to a high-finesse optical cavity. The photons are generated by an adiabatically driven stimulated Raman transition between two atomic ground states, with the vacuum field of the cavity stimulating one branch of the transition, and laser pulses deterministically driving the other branch. This process is unitary and therefore intrinsically reversible, which is essential for quantum communication and networking, and the photons should be appropriate for all-optical quantum information processing.
We realize a deterministic single-photon source from one and the same calcium ion interacting with a high-finesse optical cavity. Photons are created in the cavity with efficiency 88±17%, a tenfold improvement over previous cavity-ion sources. Results of the second-order correlation function are presented, demonstrating a high suppression of two-photon events limited only by background counts. The cavity photon pulse shape is obtained, with good agreement between experiment and simulation. Moreover, theoretical analysis of the temporal evolution of the atomic populations provides relevant information about the dynamics of the process and opens the way to future investigations of a coherent atom–photon interface.
A single rubidium atom trapped within a high-finesse optical cavity is an efficient source of single photons. We theoretically and experimentally study single-photon generation using a vacuum stimulated Raman adiabatic passage. We experimentally achieve photon generation efficiencies of up to 34% and 56% on the D1{D}_{1}D1​ and D2{D}_{2}D2​ line, respectively. Output coupling with 89% results in record-high efficiencies for single photons in one spatiotemporally well-defined propagating mode. We demonstrate that the observed generation efficiencies are constant in a wide range of applied pump laser powers and virtual level detunings. This allows for independent control over the frequency and wave packet envelope of the photons without loss in efficiency. In combination with the long trapping time of the atom in the cavity, our system constitutes a significant advancement toward an on-demand, highly efficient single-photon source for quantum information processing tasks.