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Atom-light interactions in photonic crystals.

Authors :
Goban A
Hung CL
Yu SP
Hood JD
Muniz JA
Lee JH
Martin MJ
McClung AC
Choi KS
Chang DE
Painter O
Kimble HJ
Source :
Nature communications [Nat Commun] 2014 May 08; Vol. 5, pp. 3808. Date of Electronic Publication: 2014 May 08.
Publication Year :
2014

Abstract

The integration of nanophotonics and atomic physics has been a long-sought goal that would open new frontiers for optical physics, including novel quantum transport and many-body phenomena with photon-mediated atomic interactions. Reaching this goal requires surmounting diverse challenges in nanofabrication and atomic manipulation. Here we report the development of a novel integrated optical circuit with a photonic crystal capable of both localizing and interfacing atoms with guided photons. Optical bands of a photonic crystal waveguide are aligned with selected atomic transitions. From reflection spectra measured with average atom number N=1.1+/-0.4, we infer that atoms are localized within the waveguide by optical dipole forces. The fraction of single-atom radiative decay into the waveguide is Γ1D/Γ'≃(0.32±0.08), where Γ1D is the rate of emission into the guided mode and Γ' is the decay rate into all other channels. Γ1D/Γ' is unprecedented in all current atom-photon interfaces.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2041-1723
Volume :
5
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Nature communications
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
24806520
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4808