Title :
Exploring the quantumness of light
Author_Institution :
Lab. Kastler Brossel, ENS, Paris, France
Abstract :
After a brief review of experiments realized on optical fields, the author will focus on recent cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity QED) studies performed on a microwave field trapped between highly reflecting superconducting mirrors and probed by Rydberg atoms. Exotic Fock and Schrodinger cat states of radiation are generated, kept in a cavity for an observable time and reconstructed in details. The decoherence of these states - i.e. their progressive transformation into mundane classical states under the effect of their coupling to the environment - is recorded in real time, realizing a detailed exploration of the quantum to classical boundary.
Keywords :
Rydberg states; quantum electrodynamics; quantum optics; Fock cat states; Rydberg atoms; Schrodinger cat states; cavity QED; cavity quantum electrodynamics; light quantumness; microwave field; optical fields; superconducting mirrors; Atom optics; Cryptography; Noise measurement; Noise reduction; Optical fiber communication; Optical noise; Quantum mechanics; Superconducting microwave devices;
Conference_Titel :
Lasers and Electro-Optics 2009 and the European Quantum Electronics Conference. CLEO Europe - EQEC 2009. European Conference on
Conference_Location :
Munich
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4079-5
DOI :
10.1109/CLEOE-EQEC.2009.5192063
