Cavity-QED with Ions in a Micro Trap

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ferdinand Schmidt-Kaler
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2010 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 181595191

In this proposal, we describe the experimental realization of the strong coupling between a single ion, or a small linear ion crystal, with the mode of a high finesse optical cavity. The ion is transported in a micro-structured segmented linear ion trap into the mode of a micro-cavity, which is integrated in the trap design and which is based on special prepared optical fibers at 100μm distance. As the corresponding mode volume is small, we reach the strong coupling regime, where the coherent light-matter interaction dominates over dissipation from spontaneous decay and cavity losses even with a single ion in the waist. We aim to investigate application of our experiment for a detection of the ion internal state by a dissipative light interaction. We will investigate light induced quantum gate operations for single ions and two ion crystals, as a result of the common interaction with the cavity mode. Finally, our ion-light interface may be applied to entangle photons with ions.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants