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Updated: Jul 7, 2026
11:08
Fabrication And Characterization Of Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides And Cavities
Published on: November 30, 2012
Cavity nonlinear optics at low photon numbers from collective atomic motion
Subhadeep Gupta1, Kevin L Moore, Kater W Murch
1Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|February 1, 2008
Summary
Ultracold atoms in an optical resonator exhibit strong nonlinear optical effects. This enables observation of optical bistability with fewer than one photon, paving the way for low-light nonlinear optics.
Area of Science:
- Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
- Quantum Optics
- Nonlinear Optics
Background:
- Fabry-Perot optical resonators are key for studying light-matter interactions.
- Kerr nonlinearity and optical bistability are fundamental nonlinear optical phenomena.
- Ultracold atoms offer unique quantum properties for advanced optical studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate Kerr nonlinearity and dispersive optical bistability in a driven optical resonator.
- To explore the role of ultracold atom displacement in inducing nonlinear optical effects.
- To demonstrate strongly nonlinear optics at extremely low photon numbers.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing a Fabry-Perot optical resonator containing up to 10^5 ultracold 87Rb atoms.
- Preparing atoms in the lowest band of a one-dimensional intracavity optical lattice.
- Inducing collective atomic motion via optical forces within the driven resonator.
Main Results:
- Observed Kerr nonlinearity and dispersive optical bistability.
- Demonstrated optical bistability at photon numbers below unity.
- Leveraged atomic motional coherence for nonlinear optics at low photon counts.
Conclusions:
- Collective atomic motion in optical resonators can drive strong nonlinear optical effects.
- Ultracold atoms enable nonlinear optics at unprecedentedly low photon numbers.
- The findings open new avenues for quantum information processing and precision measurement.
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