Abstract
A single cesium atom trapped within the mode of an optical cavity is used to generate single photons on demand. The photon wave packets are emitted as a Gaussian beam with temporal profile and repetition rate controlled by external driving fields. Each generation attempt is inferred to succeed with a probability near unity, whereas the efficiency for creating an unpolarized photon in the total cavity output is 0.69 ± 0.10, as limited by passive cavity losses. An average of 1.4 × 104 photons are produced by each trapped atom. These results constitute an important step in quantum information science, for example, toward the realization of distributed quantum networking.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1992-1994 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Science |
| Volume | 303 |
| Issue number | 5666 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 26 2004 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General