Dear colleagues,
This week we are looking forward to a talk by Kristin Beck, who is
currently a graduate student in Vuletić group.
Kind regards,
Richard and Swati
*--------------*
*ITAMP Topical Lunch Discussion*
Date: Friday, Feb. 6th
Time: 12:00-1:30 pm
Pizza will be served.
Location: B-106 @ Center for Astrophysics (60 Garden Street)
Directions: after entering the lobby of the CfA, turn right to enter the
hallway of the B building. In the hallway, turn right again, and B-106 is
there.
*Speaker: *Kristin Beck- Friday, 2/4
*Title: *Cross Modulation and Nondestructive Detection of Individual Photons
*Abstract: *Deterministic interactions between individual photons are a
building block for optical quantum information, simulation and
communication schemes. In this talk, I will present two recent experiments
in which we create and study such interactions. In our system, we send
photons ('EIT photons') through an ensemble of cesium atoms, where they
travel as slow-light polaritons. These atoms are, in turn, coupled to a
high finesse optical cavity. The atomic component of the polariton changes
the transmission of light through the cavity ('cavity photons').
In the first experiment, we demonstrate the mutual cross modulation of EIT
and cavity photons. Here, the polariton's presence blocks cavity light. We
observe that the two initially uncorrelated beams become anticorrelated
with an equal-time cross-correlation function g2(0)=0.89(1). One photon
extinguishes another with a probability of 11(1)% [1].
In the second experiment, we show that the system can be used to
continuously detect photons without destroying them. The polariton's
presence now changes the polarization of the light transmitted through the
cavity. In the correct polarization basis, the EIT and cavity photons
become correlated and we measure g2(0)=6(1).
[1] K. Beck, W. Chen, Q. Lin, M. Gullans, M. D. Lukin, V. Vuletic, Phys.
Rev. Lett. 113, 113603 (2014)
--
Dr. Swati Singh
Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (ITAMP),
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics,
60 Garden Street, MS-14,
Cambridge, MA 02138
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~ssingh/