Electromagnetically-induced transparency and entanglement dynamics of a strongly driven trapped atom

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Hanspeter Helm
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2010 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 168164125

When two laser beams are tuned to electromagnetically-induced transparency, a rapid removal of vibrational energy of a trapped atom is predicted and observed under suitable experimental conditions. Treating this problem numerically under conditions far from the Lamb-Dicke limit, one observes strong signatures of entanglement between the three internal electronic degrees of freedom and the external translational degree of freedom of the trapped atom. The atom is thus driven into an entangled non-equilibrium stationary state which arises from the dissipative dynamics and which scales with the magnitude of the strength of sideband transitions. The central goal of the project is the detailed numerical investigation of the time-evolution of quantum correlations between the electronic qutrit and the translational degree of freedom of the laser-driven trapped atom, focusing in particular on the dynamics of birth, death and rebirth of entanglement during the cooling process, on the entanglement properties of the resulting non-equilibrium stationary state, and on the explicit determination of experimentally accessible entanglement witnesses and measures. The exciting prospect of being able to simulate numerically the full coupled quantum evolution of this experimentally realistic system forms the backbone for this proposal.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Heinz-Peter Breuer