Bursts of polarised single photons from atom-cavity sources

Journal article

Photonic qubits play an instrumental role in the development of advanced quantum technologies, including quantum networking, boson sampling and measurement based quantum computing. A promising framework for the deterministic production of indistinguishable single photons is an atomic emitter coupled to a single mode of a high finesse optical cavity. Polarisation control is an important cornerstone, particularly when the polarisation defines the state of a quantum bit. Here, we propose a scheme for producing bursts of polarised single photons by coupling a generalised atomic emitter to an optical cavity, exploiting a particular choice of quantisation axis. In connection with two re-preparation methods, simulations predict ten-photon bursts coincidence count rates on the order of 1 kHz with single $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms trapped in a state of the art optical cavity. This paves the way for novel n-photon experiments with atom-cavity sources.

Authors: Ernst, JO; Alvarez, J-R; Barrett, TD; Kuhn, A

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Journal: Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
• Volume: 56
• Issue: 20
• Article number: 205003
• Publication date: 2023-09-25
• Acceptance date: 2023-09-14
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6455/acf9d2
• EISSN: 1361-6455
• ISSN: 0953-4075
• Language: English
• Keywords: light–matter interaction; quantum technologies; single photon sources; atomic quantum systems; cavity qed; FFR