Abstract

The textbook example of atom-light, interaction is a single isolated atom interacting with one mode of an optical cavity. The theory of this idealized cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED) example is well understood for the ideal non dissipative case. Of particular interest is the regime of strong coupling where the frequency g associated with the oscillatory internal evolution (vacuum-Rabi flopping) is larger than the cavity field decay rate κ, the atomic dipole decay rate γ, and the inverse interaction time T^-1. Whereas most CQED experiments up to date were performed with thermal atomic beams by averaging the effect of many atoms, the interesting regime of observing the interaction of single atoms has only recently been touched experimentally [1, 2]. We present measurements on the motion of single atoms which are strongly coupled to the quantized field of a high-finesse (F = 4·10⁵) optical cavity.

© 1998 IEEE