Single Rubidium atoms are quasi-permanently trapped within the mode of a high-finesse optical cavity. This allows for the coherent production and absorption of single photons and thereby the exchange of information at the quantum level. The phase modulation within a single-photon wave packet is analyzed via two-photon-interference. For indistinguishable single photons the interference leads to coalescence of the photons. The phase modulation, however, results in a significant modification of this interference effect. In a second experiment the atom-cavity system is used as an optical quantum memory, the first implementation based on a single particle. The polarization of an impinging light pulse is stored as a superposition of Zeeman substates. The readout is realized via the production of a photon with equal polarization. The memory is analyzed via quantum process tomography, showing high fidelity, efficiency and storage time.
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Single Rubidium atoms are quasi-permanently trapped within the mode of a high-finesse optical cavity. This allows for the coherent production and absorption of single photons and thereby the exchange of information at the quantum level. The phase modulation within a single-photon wave packet is analyzed via two-photon-interference. For indistinguishable single photons the interference leads to coalescence of the photons. The phase modulation, however, results in a significant modification of thi...
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