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Introduction

Janik Wolters

Published Aug 20, 2015• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In recent decades plenty of optical active quantum systems have been intensely studied on the level of single emitters. Integration into hybrid systems was demonstrated for single atoms, semicon- ductor quantum dots, color centers in wide-bandgap material, and single molecules. Among these, single atoms and ions in the gas phase played a pioneering role, and they were used to establish many experimental techniques. Already in the late 1990s the groups around S. Haroche in Paris andH.Walther in Garching coupled single atoms in the gas phase to ultra-high-finesse microwave cavities. In their experiments several basic concepts of cavity quantum electrodynamics, like vacuum Rabi oscillation [56, 57], were tested, and the EPR-like entanglement of two atoms was achieved [58]. Later on, the group around G. Rempe in Munich succeeded in building hybrids of optical cavities and single rubidium atoms. Here, cavity-enhanced cooling and trapping was demonstrated [59, 60].

DOI
10.1201/b18858-11

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Cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) offers powerful possibilities for the deterministic control of atom-photon interactions quantum by quantum [1]. Indeed, modern experiments in cavity QED have achieved the exceptional circumstance of strong coupling, for which single quanta can profoundly impact the dynamics of the atom-cavity system. The diverse accomplishments of this field set the stage for advances into yet broader frontiers in quantum information science for which cavity QED offers unique advantages, such as the realization of quantum networks by way of multiple atom-cavity systems linked by optical interconnects [2,3].
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