OPTICAL SWITCHING: CONTROLLING LIGHT WITH LIGHT

Gianluca Manzacca, Gabriella Cincotti

Dieter Meschede, Wolfgang Alt, Arno Rauschenbeutel

Michal Bajcsy, Sebastian Hofferberth, Thibault Peyronel +5 more

We demonstrate a fiber-optical switch that operates with a few hundred photons per switching pulse. The light-light interaction is mediated by laser-cooled atoms. The required strong interaction between atoms and light is achieved by simultaneously confining photons and atoms inside the microscopic hollow core of a single-mode photonic-crystal fiber.