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arXiv · 0804.4861

Interfacing light and single atoms with a lens

Meng Khoon Tey·Gleb Maslennikov·Timothy C. H. Liew·Syed Abdullah Aljunid·Florian Huber·Brenda Chng·Zilong Chen·Valerio Scarani·Christian Kurtsiefer
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Abstract

We characterize the interaction between a single atom or similar microscopic system and a light field via the scattering ratio. For that, we first derive the electrical field in a strongly focused Gaussian light beam, and then consider the atomic response. Following the simple scattering model, the fraction of scattered optical power for a weak coherent probe field leads to unphysical scattering ratios above 1 in the strong focusing regime. A refined model considering interference between exciting and scattered field into finite-sized detectors or optical fibers is presented, and compared to experimental extinction measurements for various focusing strengths.

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Meng Khoon Tey, Gleb Maslennikov, Timothy C. H. Liew, Syed Abdullah Aljunid, Florian Huber, Brenda Chng, Zilong Chen, Valerio Scarani, Christian Kurtsiefer. 2009-02-17. Interfacing light and single atoms with a lens. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630%2F11%2F4%2F043011

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