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Updated: May 10, 2026

High Resolution Phonon-assisted Quasi-resonance Fluorescence Spectroscopy
Published on: June 28, 2016
Strong coupling between single atoms and nontransversal photons
Christian Junge1, Danny O'Shea, Jürgen Volz
1Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, Vienna University of Technology, 1020 Vienna, Austria.
Abstract:
Light is often described as a fully transverse-polarized wave, i.e., with an electric field vector that is orthogonal to the direction of propagation. However, light confined in dielectric structures such as optical waveguides or whispering-gallery-mode microresonators can have a strong longitudinal polarization component. Here, using single (85)Rb atoms strongly coupled to a whispering-gallery-mode microresonator, we experimentally and theoretically demonstrate that the presence of this longitudinal polarization fundamentally alters the interaction between light and matter.
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