A single three-level atom driven by a longitudinal mode of a high-Q cavity is used to implement two-qubit quantum phase gates for the intracavity field. The two qubits are associated to the zero-and one-photon Fock states of each of the two opposite circular polarization states of the field. The three-level atom yields the conditional phase gate provided the two polarization states and the atom interact in a $V$-type configuration and the two photon resonance condition is fulfilled. Microwave and optical implementations are discussed with gate fidelities being evaluated against several decoherence mechanisms such as atomic velocity fluctuations or the presence of a weak magnetic field. The use of coherent states for both polarization states is investigated to assess the entanglement capability of the proposed quantum gates.
Ultracold $^{87}$Rb atoms are delivered into a high-finesse optical micro-cavity using a translating optical lattice trap and detected via the cavity field. The atoms are loaded into an optical lattice from a magneto-optic trap (MOT) and transported 1.5 cm into the cavity. Our cavity satisfies the strong-coupling requirements for a single intracavity atom, thus permitting real-time observation of single atoms transported into the cavity. This transport scheme enables us to vary the number of intracavity atoms from 1 to $>$100 corresponding to a maximum atomic cooperativity parameter of 5400, t…
We investigate the quantum fluctuations of a single atom in a weakly driven cavity, with an intracavity optical lattice. The weak driving field is on resonance with the atoms and the cavity, and is the second-harmonic of the lattice beam. In this special case we can find eigenstates of the Hamiltonian in terms of Mathieu functions.We present analytic results for the second order intensity correlation function $g^{(2)}(τ)$ and the intensity-field correlation function $h_θ(τ)$, for both transmitted and fluorescent light for weak driving fields. We find that the coupling of the center of mass mot…
We investigate cooling and trapping of single atoms inside an optical cavity using a quasi-resonant field and a far-off resonant mode of the Laguerre-Gauss type. The far-off resonant doughnut mode provides an efficient trapping in the case when it shifts the atomic internal ground and excited state in the same way, which is particularly useful for quantum information applications of cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) systems. Long trapping times can be achieved, as shown by full 3-D simulations of the quasi-classical motion inside the resonator.
By integrating the techniques of laser cooling and trapping with those of cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED), single Cesium atoms have been trapped within the mode of a small, high finesse optical cavity in a regime of strong coupling. The observed lifetime for individual atoms trapped within the cavity mode is $τ\approx 28$ms, and is limited by fluctuations of light forces arising from the far-detuned intracavity field. This initial realization of trapped atoms in cavity QED should enable diverse protocols in quantum information science.
We present a novel cavity QED system in which a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is trapped within a high-finesse optical cavity whose length may be adjusted to access both single-mode and multimode configurations. We demonstrate the coupling of an atomic ensemble to the cavity in both configurations. The atoms are confined either within an intracavity far-off-resonance optical dipole trap (FORT) or a crossed optical dipole trap via transversely oriented lasers. Multimode cavity QED provides fully emergent and dynamical optical lattices for intracavity BECs. Such systems will enable explorations…
The number of atoms trapped within the mode of an optical cavity is determined in real time by monitoring the transmission of a weak probe beam. Continuous observation of atom number is accomplished in the strong coupling regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics and functions in concert with a cooling scheme for radial atomic motion. The probe transmission exhibits sudden steps from one plateau to the next in response to the time evolution of the intracavity atom number, from N >= 3 to N = 2 to 1 to 0, with some trapping events lasting over 1 second.
We investigate the quantum fluctuations of a single atom in a weakly driven cavity, where the center of mass motion of the atom is quantized in one dimension. We present analytic results for the second order intensity correlation function $g^{(2)}(τ)$ and the intensity-field correlation function $h_θ(τ)$, for both transmitted and fluorescent light for weak driving fields. We find that the coupling of the center of mass motion to the intracavity field mode can be deleterious to nonclassical effects in photon statistics; less so for the intensity-field correlations.
We utilize high-bandwidth phase quadrature homodyne measurement of the light transmitted through a Fabry-Perot cavity, driven strongly and on resonance, to detect excess phase noise induced by a single intracavity atom. We analyze the correlation properties and driving-strength dependence of the atom-induced phase noise to establish that it corresponds to the long-predicted phenomenon of spontaneous dressed-state polarization. Our experiment thus provides a demonstration of cavity quantum electrodynamics in the strong driving regime, in which one atom interacts strongly with a many-photon cavi…
We have measured the second-order correlation function of the cavity-QED microlaser output and observed a transition from photon bunching to antibunching with increasing average number of intracavity atoms. The observed correlation times and the transition from super- to sub-Poisson photon statistics can be well described by gain-loss feedback or enhanced/reduced restoring action against fluctuations in photon number in the context of a quantum microlaser theory and a photon rate equation picture. However, the theory predicts a degree of antibunching several times larger than that observed, wh…
The interplay of quantum fluctuations with nonlinear dynamics is a central topic in the study of open quantum systems, connected to fundamental issues (such as decoherence and the quantum-classical transition) and practical applications (such as coherent information processing and the development of mesoscopic sensors/amplifiers). With this context in mind, we here present a computational study of some elementary bifurcations that occur in a driven and damped cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity QED) model at low intracavity photon number. In particular, we utilize the single-atom cavity QED…
While the squeezing of a propagating field can, in principle, be made arbitrarily strong, the cavity-field squeezing is subject to the well-known 3 dB limit, and thus has limited applications. Here, we propose the use of a fully quantum degenerate parametric amplifier (DPA) to beat this squeezing limit. Specifically, we show that by {\it simply} applying a two-tone driving to the signal mode, the pump mode can, {\it counterintuitively}, be driven by the photon loss of the signal mode into a squeezed steady state with, in principle, an {\it arbitrarily high} degree of squeezing. Furthermore, we…
In an oxide apertured quantum dot (QD) micropillar cavity-QED system, we found strong QD hysteresis effects and lineshape modifications even at very low intensities corresponding to less than 0.001 intracavity photons. We attribute this to the excitation of charges by the intracavity field; charges that get trapped at the oxide aperture, where they screen the internal electric field and blueshift the QD transition. This in turn strongly modulates light absorption by cavity QED effects, eventually leading to the observed hysteresis and lineshape modifications. The cavity also enables us to obse…
We present a method of implementing ultrafast two-qubit gates valid for the ultrastrong coupling (USC) and deep strong coupling (DSC) regimes of light-matter interaction, considering state-of-the-art circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) technology. Our proposal includes a suitable qubit architecture and is based on a four-step sequential displacement of an intracavity mode, operating at a time proportional to the inverse of the resonator frequency. Through ab initio calculations, we show that these quantum gates can be performed at subnanosecond time scales, while keeping the fidelity above 9…
Two recent experiments have reported the trapping of individual atoms inside optical resonators by the mechanical forces associated with single photons [Hood et al., Science 287, 1447 (2000) and Pinkse et al., Nature 404, 365 (2000)]. Here we analyze the trapping dynamics in these settings, focusing on two points of interest. Firstly, we investigate the extent to which light-induced forces in these experiments are distinct from their free-space counterparts. Secondly, we explore the quantitative features of the resulting atomic motion and how these dynamics are mapped onto variations of the in…
We have performed spectroscopic measurements of a superconducting qubit dispersively coupled to a nonlinear resonator driven by a pump microwave field. Measurements of the qubit frequency shift provide a sensitive probe of the intracavity field, yielding a precise characterization of the resonator nonlinearity. The qubit linewidth has a complex dependence on the pump frequency and amplitude, which is correlated with the gain of the nonlinear resonator operated as a small-signal amplifier. The corresponding dephasing rate is found to be close to the quantum limit in the low-gain limit of the am…
We describe a method to tune, in-situ, between transverse and longitudinal light-matter coupling in a hybrid circuit-QED device composed of an electron spin degree of freedom coupled to a microwave transmission line cavity. Our approach relies on periodic modulation of the coupling itself, such that in a certain frame the interaction is both amplified and either transverse, or, by modulating at two frequencies, longitudinal. The former realizes an effective simulation of certain aspects of the ultra-strong coupling regime, while the latter allows one to implement a longitudinal readout scheme …
Optical cavity QED provides a platform with which to explore quantum many-body physics in driven-dissipative systems. Single-mode cavities provide strong, infinite-range photon-mediated interactions among intracavity atoms. However, these global all-to-all couplings are limiting from the perspective of exploring quantum many-body physics beyond the mean-field approximation. The present work demonstrates that local couplings can be created using multimode cavity QED. This is established through measurements of the threshold of a superradiant, self-organization phase transition versus atomic pos…
We present two cavity quantum electrodynamics proposals that, sharing the same basic elements, allow for the deterministic generation of entangled photons pairs by means of a three-level atom successively coupled to two single longitudinal mode high-Q optical resonators presenting polarization degeneracy. In the faster proposal, the three-level atom yields a polarization entangled photon pair via two truncated Rabi oscillations, whereas in the adiabatic proposal a counterintuitive Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage process is considered. Although slower than the former process, this second met…
The conventional method of qubit measurements in circuit QED is employing the dispersive regime of qubit-cavity coupling, which results in an approximated scheme of quantum nondemolition (QND) readout. This scheme becomes problematic in the case of strong coupling and/or strong measurement drive, owing to the so-called Purcell effect. A recent proposal by virtue of longitudinal coupling suggests a new scheme to realize fast, high-fidelity, and {\it ideal QND} readout of qubit state. The aim of the present work is twofold: (i) In parallel to what has been done in the past years for the dispersi…
We discuss a cavity-QED scheme to deterministically generate entangled photons pairs by using a three-level atom successively coupled to two single longitudinal mode high-Q cavities presenting polarization degeneracy. The first cavity is prepared in a well defined Fock state with two photons with opposite circular polarizations while the second cavity remains in the vacuum state. A half-of-a-resonant Rabi oscillation in each cavity transfers one photon from the first to the second cavity, leaving the photons entangled in their polarization degree of freedom. The feasibility of this implementat…
We investigate the Landau-level structures encoded in the famous Heisenberg-Euler (HE) effective action in constant electromagnetic fields. We first discuss the HE effective actions for scalar and spinor QED, and then extend it to the QCD analogue in the covariantly constant chromo-electromagnetic fields. We identify all the Landau levels and the Zeeman energies starting out from the proper-time representations at the one-loop order, and derive the vacuum persistence probability for the Schwinger mechanism in the summation form over independent contributions of the all-order Landau levels. We …
Chip-based cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) devices consisting of a self-assembled InAs quantum dot (QD) coupled to a high quality factor GaAs microdisk cavity are coherently probed through their optical channel using a fiber taper waveguide. We highlight one particularly important aspect of this all-fiber measurement setup, which is the accuracy to which the optical coupling level and optical losses are known relative to typical free-space excitation techniques. This allows for precise knowledge of the intracavity photon number and measurement of absolute transmitted and reflected signals…
The problem of longitudinal oscillations of an electric field and a charge polarization density in QED vacuum is considered. Within the framework of semiclassical analysis, we calculate time-periodic solutions of bosonized (1+1)-dimensional QED (massive Schwinger model). Applying the Bohr--Sommerfeld quantization condition, we determine the mass spectrum of charge-zero bound states (plasmons) which correspond in quantum theory to the found classical solutions. We show that the existence of such plasmons does not contradict any fundamental physical laws and study qualitatively their excitation …
Optical cavities can induce photon-mediated interactions among intracavity-trapped atoms. Multimode cavities provide the ability to tune the form of these interactions, e.g., by inducing a nonlocal, sign-changing term to the interaction. By accounting for the Gouy phase shifts of the modes in a nearly degenerate, confocal, Fabry-Perot cavity, we provide a theoretical description of this interaction, along with additional experimental confirmation to complement that presented in the companion paper, Ref. [1]. Furthermore, we show that this interaction should be written in terms of a complex ord…
We present a circuit construction for a new fixed-frequency superconducting qubit and show how it can be scaled up to a grid with strictly local interactions. The circuit QED realization we propose implements $σ_z$-type coupling between a superconducting qubit and any number of $LC$ resonators. The resulting \textit{longitudinal coupling} is inherently different from the usual $σ_x$-type \textit{transverse coupling}, which is the one that has been most commonly used for superconducting qubits. In a grid of fixed-frequency qubits and resonators with a particular pattern of always-on interaction…
Investigation of near field of QED requires the refuse from an averaging of the Lorentz condition that smooths out some field peculiarities. Instead of it Schwinger decomposition of the 4-potential with the Bogoliubov method of interaction switching in time and in space regions is considered. At such approach near field is describable by the part of covariant Green function of QED, the fast-damping Schwinger function formed by longitudinal and scalar components of Aμ none restricted by light cone. This description reveals possibility of superluminal phenomena within the near field zone as…
Multi-qubit quantum Rabi model, which is a fundamental model describing light-matter interaction, plays an important role in various physical systems. In this paper, we propose a theoretical method to simulate multi-qubit quantum Rabi model in a circuit quantum electrodynamics system. By means of external transversal and longitudinal driving fields, an effective Hamiltonian describing the multi-qubit quantum Rabi model is derived. The effective frequency of the resonator and the effective splitting of the qubits depend on the external driving fields. By adjusting the frequencies and the amplit…
Hybrid devices based on the superconducting qubits have emerged as a promising platform for controlling the quantum states of macroscopic resonators. The nonlinearity added by a qubit can be a valuable resource for such control. Here we study a hybrid system consisting of a mechanical resonator longitudinally coupled to a transmon qubit. The qubit readout can be done by coupling to a readout mode like in c-QED setup. The coupling between the mechanical resonator and transmon qubit can be implemented by modulation of the SQUID inductance. In such a tri-partite system, we analyze the steady-stat…
We extend our theory of Bloch oscillations of cold atoms inside an optical cavity [ Venkatesh et al. Phys. Rev. A 80 063834 (2009)] to include the effects of quantum noise arising from coupling to external modes. The noise acts as a form of quantum measurement backaction by perturbing the coupled dynamics of the atoms and the light. We take it into account by solving the Heisenberg-Langevin equations for linearized fluctuations about the atomic and optical mean fields and examine how this influences the signal-to-noise ratio of a measurement of external forces using this system. In particular,…
Cavity-based quantum node is a competitive platform for distributed quantum networks. Here, we characterize a high-finesse Fabry-Perot optical resonator for coupling single or few atomic quantum registers. Our cavity consists of two mirrors with different reflectivities: One has minimal optical loss, and the other high transmission loss where more than 90% of the intracavity photons would be emitted. Cavity finesse, birefringent effects, and mechanical resonances are measured using the lasers at 780, 782, and 795 nm. In order to obtain cavity geometric parameters, we drive the adjacent longitu…
Quantum jumps of a qubit are usually observed between its energy eigenstates, also known as its longitudinal pseudo-spin component. Is it possible, instead, to observe quantum jumps between the transverse superpositions of these eigenstates? We answer positively by presenting the first continuous quantum nondemolition measurement of the transverse component of an individual qubit. In a circuit QED system irradiated by two pump tones, we engineer an effective Hamiltonian whose eigenstates are the transverse qubit states, and a dispersive measurement of the corresponding operator. Such transvers…
