Experimental realization of a one-atom laser in the regime of strong coupling
Abstract
Conventional lasers (from table-top systems to microscopic devices) typically operate in the so-called weak-coupling regime, involving large numbers of atoms and photons; individual quanta have a negligible impact on the system dynamics. However, this is no longer the case when the system approaches the regime of strong coupling for which the number of atoms and photons can become quite small. Indeed, the lasing properties of a single atom in a resonant cavity have been extensively investigated theoretically. Here we report the experimental realization of a one-atom laser operated in the regime of strong coupling. We exploit recent advances in cavity quantum electrodynamics that allow one atom to be isolated in an optical cavity in a regime for which one photon is sufficient to saturate the atomic transition. The observed characteristics of the atom-cavity system are qualitatively different from those of the familiar many-atom case. Specifically, our measurements of the intracavity photon number versus pump intensity indicate that there is no threshold for lasing, and we infer that the output flux from the cavity mode exceeds that from atomic fluorescence by more than tenfold. Observations of the second-order intensity correlation function demonstrate that our one-atom laser generates manifestly quantum (nonclassical) light, typified by photon anti-bunching and sub-poissonian photon statistics.
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The solution to a quantum Markovian master equation like the quantum optical master equation (237) may be written in the Kraus operator sum form (289) for ρS ∈ Hd.
“It is known that the solution to a quantum Markovian master equation like the quantum optical master equation under consideration, (237), may be written in the form (for ρ S ∈ H d )[6, 8, 58, 59, 60, 61]:”
From Fundamentals of quantum mechanics in Liouville space (2020) · cites this paper as [59]
The paper’s “A One-Atom Laser in a Regime of Strong Coupling” section discusses quantum simulations of a four-state laser model, but does not address whether solutions of quantum Markovian master equations have a Kraus operator-sum form. Searches for Kraus operators and master-equation solutions found no supporting passage in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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Fundamentals of quantum mechanics in Liouville space
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- Authors
- McKeever, J., Boca, A., Boozer, A. D., Buck, J. R., & Kimble, H. J.
- Affiliations
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kimble, H. J.
- ORCID
- Kimble, H. J.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2003-09
- Volume
- 425
- Issue
- 6955
- Pages
- 268-271
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2036638802
- Cited by
- 635
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 32 · 2012: 28
- FWCI
- 22.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Quantum optics and atomic interactions
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Strong Light-Matter Interactions
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Quantum Information and Cryptography
- Keywords
- strong coupling, cavity quantum electrodynamics, sub-Poissonian statistics, photon antibunching, second-order intensity correlation function, nonclassical light
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