Abstract

The experimental possibility of observing the most basic atom-radiation interactions appears to be much closer than even two years ago. Such experiments are expected to focus on properties of a single Rydberg atom interacting with an ultracold cavity. In the event that the atom is prepared so that it can be approximated as having only two levels, and the cavity is cold enough to be effectively lossless during the interaction time, it is expected to be well described by the Jaynes Cummings (J-C) model¹ theory. Rabi oscillations as predicted by J-C theory have already been observed for the N-atom case.²

© 1984 Optical Society of America