arXiv:quant-ph/0410218 · Physical Review A
Ultrahigh- Q toroidal microresonators for cavity quantum electrodynamics
S. M. Spillane, Tobias Jan Kippenberg, Kerry J. Vahala, Kok Win Goh, E. Wilcut, Harry J. Kimble
Abstract
We investigate the suitability of toroidal microcavities for strong-coupling cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). Numerical modeling of the optical modes demonstrate a significant reduction of the modal volume with respect to the whispering gallery modes of dielectric spheres, while retaining the high-quality factors representative of spherical cavities. The extra degree of freedom of toroid microcavities can be used to achieve improved cavity QED characteristics. Numerical results for atom-cavity coupling strength $g$, critical atom number ${N}_{0}$, and critical photon number ${n}_{0}$ for cesium are calculated and shown to exceed values currently possible using Fabry-Perot cavities. Modeling predicts coupling rates $g∕2\ensuremath{\pi}$ exceeding $700\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MHz}$ and critical atom numbers approaching ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}7}$ in optimized structures. Furthermore, preliminary experimental measurements of toroidal cavities at a wavelength of $852\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nm}$ indicate that quality factors in excess of ${10}^{8}$ can be obtained in a $50\text{\penalty1000-\hskip0pt}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ principal diameter cavity, which would result in strong-coupling values of $\mathbf{(}g∕(2\ensuremath{\pi}),{n}_{0},{N}_{0}\mathbf{)}=(86\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MHz},4.6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4},1.0\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3})$.