dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaA Single-Photon Server with Just One Atom
| Authors | Markus Hijlkema, Bernhard Weber, Holger P. Specht, Simon C. Webster, Axel Kuhn, Gerhard Rempe |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0702034 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0702034 |
Abstract
Neutral atoms are ideal objects for the deterministic processing of quantum information. Entanglement operations have been performed by photon exchange or controlled collisions. Atom-photon interfaces were realized with single atoms in free space or strongly coupled to an optical cavity. A long standing challenge with neutral atoms, however, is to overcome the limited observation time. Without exception, quantum effects appeared only after ensemble averaging. Here we report on a single-photon source with one-and-only-one atom quasi permanently coupled to a high-finesse cavity. Quasi permanent refers to our ability to keep the atom long enough to, first, quantify the photon-emission statistics and, second, guarantee the subsequent performance as a single-photon server delivering up to 300,000 photons for up to 30 seconds. This is achieved by a unique combination of single-photon generation and atom cooling. Our scheme brings truly deterministic protocols of quantum information science with light and matter within reach.
{
"annotation_id": "c450e083-2f01-449b-92d3-33a97705e513",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:02:33.642000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:02:33.642000Z",
"file_hash": "53881deb2531a85f5e74c23a14e07ad55c7c3a691cc57228b5e511c98ad5270d",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "Neutral atoms are ideal objects for the deterministic processing of quantum\ninformation. Entanglement operations have been performed by photon exchange or\ncontrolled collisions. Atom-photon interfaces were realized with single atoms\nin free space or strongly coupled to an optical cavity. A long standing\nchallenge with neutral atoms, however, is to overcome the limited observation\ntime. Without exception, quantum effects appeared only after ensemble\naveraging. Here we report on a single-photon source with one-and-only-one atom\nquasi permanently coupled to a high-finesse cavity. Quasi permanent refers to\nour ability to keep the atom long enough to, first, quantify the\nphoton-emission statistics and, second, guarantee the subsequent performance as\na single-photon server delivering up to 300,000 photons for up to 30 seconds.\nThis is achieved by a unique combination of single-photon generation and atom\ncooling. Our scheme brings truly deterministic protocols of quantum information\nscience with light and matter within reach.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0702034",
"authors": [
"Markus Hijlkema",
"Bernhard Weber",
"Holger P. Specht",
"Simon C. Webster",
"Axel Kuhn",
"Gerhard Rempe"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"title": "A Single-Photon Server with Just One Atom",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0702034"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "83658106-64d0-4761-98cf-5a601d5942f0",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}