Two Level Atoms in Driven Optical Cavities

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

This project focuses on the experimental study of the conditional evolution of quantum dynamic states and the development of quantum feedback. The project will focus on cavity QED systems that couple a single mode of an optical cavity with a collection of atoms. The conditional measurements are based on correlation functions of three types: intensity-intensity, intensity-field, and a new one to correlate transmitted intensity and fluorescence out of the cavity mode. Two new approaches to quantum feedback will enable the researchers to expand the parameter space and allow detuning and direct control of the field. The feedback is initiated by the detection of a single photon, the smallest size of a quantum fluctuation. This work will illuminate quantum statistical mechanics and the nascent area of quantum information as the work focuses on a strongly coupled system where the fluctuations are larger than the mean. The broader impact involves education of both graduate and undergraduate students as well as student exchanges with other international research groups.