Caltech Quantum Optics

Caltech Quantum Optics: "Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics

Cavity quantum electrodynamics is one of the few experimentally viable systems in which the intrinsic quantum mechanical coupling dominates losses due to dissipation. As a result, the interesting quantum mechanics is not obscured by interactions with the external environment but instead reveals itself for study. We investigate the use of strong coupling to control the simple quantum system of one atom interacting with a single photon in an optical cavity.

A recent application of this strongly coupled atom-cavity system has been the experimental realization of a one-atom laser. Here the macroscopic amplification medium of a conventional laser is replaced by a single cesium atom confined within a high-finesse cavity. While everyday lasers generate classical (coherent) light, the one-atom laser produces light with interesting quantum mechanical characteristics."