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CRC Press eBooks

Single-Atom Oscillators

HERBERT WALTHER

Published Aug 12, 2020• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Modern methods of laser spectroscopy allow the study of single atoms or ions in an unperturbed environment. This has opened up interesting new experiments, an among them is the detailed study of radiation-atom coupling. This chapter reviews the following two experiments of this type: the single-atom maser and the study of the resonance fluorescence of a single stored ion. The simplest and most fundamental system for studying radiation-matter coupling is a single two-level atom interacting with a single mode of an electromagnetic field in a cavity. There is another aspect of the single-atom maser which is very interesting: the non-classical statistics of the photons in the cavity. The results obtained for the single-atom maser also give a new insight into the statistical properties of masers and lasers. A problem in radiation-matter interaction which has received a lot of interest is resonance fluorescence. The experiments to investigate antibunching in resonance fluorescence have been performed by means of laser-excited collimated atomic beams.

DOI
10.1201/9781003069539-2

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•Jan 1, 2009•0 citations
Modern methods of laser spectroscopy allow the study of single atoms or ions in an unperturbed environment. This has opened up interesting new experiments, an among them is the detailed study of radiation-atom coupling. This chapter reviews the following two experiments of this type: the single-atom maser and the study of the resonance fluorescence of a single stored ion. The simplest and most fundamental system for studying radiation-matter coupling is a single two-level atom interacting with a single mode of an electromagnetic field in a cavity. There is another aspect of the single-atom maser which is very interesting: the non-classical statistics of the photons in the cavity. The results obtained for the single-atom maser also give a new insight into the statistical properties of masers and lasers. A problem in radiation-matter interaction which has received a lot of interest is resonance fluorescence. The experiments to investigate antibunching in resonance fluorescence have been performed by means of laser-excited collimated atomic beams.
Two experiments with single atoms are reviewed. In the first experiment, the interaction of a single Rydberg atom with a single mode of an electromagnetic field was investigated. The quantum collapse and revivals of the atomic inversion predicted by the Jaynes-Cummings model were demonstrated for the first time. In the second experiment, a single atomic ion stored in a radio-frequency trap was probed by resonance fluorescence. In the fluorescent light, antibunching and sub-Poissonian photon statistics were detected. Furthermore, 'crystallization' and 'evaporation' of few ions in a trap were observed as the stored ions were cooled by the laser light and heated by the radio-frequency field of the trap.>
In this paper recent experiments performed in our laboratory are reviewed dealing with the investigation of quantum phenomena in the radiation interaction of single atoms. The first part describes experiments in single mode cavities using the one-atom maser or micromaser and in the second part experiments with ion traps are summarized. The latter experiments concentrate on the investigation of resonance fluorescence. In addition new experimental proposals using ultracold atoms in cavities and traps are discussed. In those future experiments the interplay between atomic waves and light waves is important and leads to new phenomena in radiation-atom interaction.
In this paper recent experiments performed in our laboratory are reviewed dealing with the investigation of quantum phenomena in the radiation interaction of single atoms. The first part describes experiments in single mode cavities using the one-atom maser or micromaser and in the second part experiments with ion traps are summarized. The latter experiments concentrate on the investigation of resonance fluorescence. In addition new experimental proposals using ultracold atoms in cavities and traps are discussed. In those future experiments the interplay between atomic waves and light waves is important and leads to new phenomena in radiation-atom interaction.
In this contribution quantum-effects in the radiation-atom interaction will be reviewed. It is well known that most of the phenomena involving laser light can be described by semi-classical methods however phenomena such as laser noise the spectra and photon statistics of resonance fluorescence and the interaction of atoms in the single-atom maser require a quantization of the radiation field. In this paper we will describe results on the latter two effects. We will start with the discussion of resonance fluorescence. 1. RESONANCE FLUORESCENCE The resonant interaction of laser light with atomic systems has received considerable theoretical and experimental attention over the past decade. Until the advent of the laser light sources for spectroscopy consisted of ordinary spectral lamps excited by DC or RF discharges and produced light having a very broad spectral width and hence very short correlation time and a relatively low intensity. For such fields both the experimental and theoretical results are in general well understood. However the development of the laser made available light sources which are sufficiently intense that an atomic (or molecular) transition can be very easily saturated. In addition the lasers are highly monochromatic having a coherence time much greater than typical natural lifetimes of excited atomic states and finally tunable making it possible to selectively excite particular atomic transitions. The theoretical analysis of this physical situation requires the use of techniques more general than
In this paper, recent experiments performed in our laboratory are reviewed, which deal with the investigation of quantum phenomena in the radiation interaction of single atoms. The first part describes experiments in single mode cavities, using the one-atom maser or micro maser, and in the second part experiments with ion traps are summarized. The latter experiments concentrate on the investigation of resonance fluorescence. In addition, new experimental proposals using ultracold atoms in cavities and traps are discussed. In those future experiments the interplay between atomic waves and light waves is important, leading to new phenomena in radiation-atom interaction, such as the modification of the Rabi vacuum splitting.
There are only fistful of systems in physics that can be described by an exact theory from first principles and, at the same time, can be investigated under experimental conditions approaching the idealized theoretical ones. The one-atom-maser or micromaser provides such an example, making a detailed study of the fundamental properties of the atom-field interaction possible. The situation realized in a micromaser is very close to the ideal case of a single two-level atom interacting with a single quantized mode of a cavity field. In the micromaser the atoms have a dual purpose of both pumping the field and also probing it via measurements of the outgoing atoms. Any other means of measuring the field inside the resonator has the detrimental effect of lowering its Q-factor and thereby the photon storage time. The long photon storage time of the resonator allows for the decay of the field to be negligible during the passage of an atom and its interaction with the field. The behavior of atoms in a cavity is governed by the oscillatory exchange of energy between the atoms and the field, which is called Rabi oscillation. For cavity fields in the vacuum and few photon number states (Fock states), Rabi oscillations have been measured in the past. To prevent thermal effects from polluting the pure number states these experiments were performed at low temperatures (below 1 K). However, the observed resolution of the Rabi oscillations measurements was quite disappointing (only about 2% of the predicted theoretical value) and precluded more ambitious experiments like atom-atom correlations or time resolved investigations of the maser field dynamics. The observed contrast of Rabi oscillations can be considered as a figure of merit for the experimental resolution of quantum features of a maser field. Therefore, a high resolution in the measurements of Rabi oscillations is crucial. This thesis describes the methods and improvements applied to enhance the resolution of Rabi oscillations by a factor of 8. The following upgrades and developments proved to be crucial in this work: 1) The base temperature of the cryogenic system was lowered to 0.3 K, i.e. one third of the original value. At the same time, the time during which the system remains at the base temperature was improved by almost of an order of magnitude (to more than 12 h). 2) For the promotion of the atoms to the Rydberg regime new three-step diode laser setup was constructed. The excitation efficiency compared to the old dye laser was increased by two orders. Using top-of-fringe stabilization with new spectroscopic methods, specially designed error detection and feedback schemes as well as state-of-the-art PID regulators the continuous locking of lasers is about 8 h (compared to about 20 min with the old dye laser system). 3) The flexibility of using the three step excitation allows to excite different maser states and for the first time to investigate pure maser transition. 4) Various improvements on the atomic oven and the channeltron detection unit led to the reliable and stable production and detection of the atomic beam. Observed distribution of the atomic beam statistics reaches to within 6% the Poisson limit which is expected in the absence of experimental imperfections. 5) New developed techniques in magnetic field compensation allow to perform such measurements with two orders of magnitude better accuracy compared to the previous experiments. To demonstrate the new capabilities of the apparatus and to apply its improved resolution of quantum fields we performed a previously impossible in-depth analysis of mean photon number and the atomic inversion produced by a micromaser for various detunings between the cavity- and atomic resonance frequency.