Microlaser: a fundamental quantum generator of light

Kyungwon An; Ramachandra R. Dasari; Michael S. Feld

doi:10.1117/12.239822

6 May 1996 Microlaser: a fundamental quantum generator of light

Kyungwon An, Ramachandra R. Dasari, Michael S. Feld

Proceedings Volume 2799, Atomic and Quantum Optics: High-Precision Measurements; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.239822
Event: International Conference on Coherent and Nonlinear Optics, 1995, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

Abstract

We have achieved the first realization of a single atom microlaser, a laser oscillator with only one atom in an optical resonator. In the experiment a beam of two-level barium atoms traverses an ultrahigh Q single-mode cavity. The atoms are inverted by a (pi) -pulse field before they enter the cavity. Laser oscillation ((lambda) equals 791 nm) has been observed, with the mean number of atoms inside the mode <N> as small as 0.1, resulting in the mean number of photons in the mode <N> or 0.14. To understand the results quantitatively we used a fully-quantized one-atom microlaser theory adapted from its counterpart micromaser theory. The present theory was found to be in good agreement with the data for small <N> and <n>. Discrepancy between experiment and theory was observed for <n> very much greater than 1 and <N> approximately equal to 1. This discrepancy may be explained by the standing-wave nature of the cavity mode, in combination with the saturation effect occurring at large cavity photon number, as well as by the breakdown of single-atom interaction assumption in the theory for <N> greater than or equal to 1.

Citation Download Citation

Kyungwon An, Ramachandra R. Dasari, and Michael S. Feld "Microlaser: a fundamental quantum generator of light", Proc. SPIE 2799, Atomic and Quantum Optics: High-Precision Measurements, (6 May 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.239822

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