Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026

Fabrication of Uniform Nanoscale Cavities via Silicon Direct Wafer Bonding
Published on: January 9, 2014
Vacuum Rabi splitting with a single quantum dot in a photonic crystal nanocavity
T Yoshie1, A Scherer, J Hendrickson
1Electrical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
Abstract:
Cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) systems allow the study of a variety of fundamental quantum-optics phenomena, such as entanglement, quantum decoherence and the quantum-classical boundary. Such systems also provide test beds for quantum information science. Nearly all strongly coupled cavity QED experiments have used a single atom in a high-quality-factor (high-Q) cavity. Here we report the experimental realization of a strongly coupled system in the solid state: a single quantum dot embedded in the spacer of a nanocavity, showing vacuum-field Rabi splitting exceeding the decoherence linewidths of both the nanocavity and the quantum dot. This requires a small-volume cavity and an atomic-like two-level system. The photonic crystal slab nanocavity--which traps photons when a defect is introduced inside the two-dimensional photonic bandgap by leaving out one or more holes--has both high Q and small modal volume V, as required for strong light-matter interactions. The quantum dot has two discrete energy levels with a transition dipole moment much larger than that of an atom, and it is fixed in the nanocavity during growth.
Related Concept Videos
The de Broglie Wavelength
The Uncertainty Principle
The Quantum-Mechanical Model of an Atom
Rab Cascades
Electromagnetic Waves in Matter
Consider the electromagnetic wave passing through a dielectric medium. In such a case, Maxwell's equations get modified. In Ampere's law, ε0 , the dielectric permittivity of free space is replaced with ε, the permittivity of dielectric. Also, the vacuum permeability μ0 is replaced by the permeability of the medium, μ.
Furthermore, the...
Standing Waves in a Cavity

