Orozco, Luis

Date:  Friday, August 25, 2017
Time:  14:00
Place:  ETH Zurich, Hönggerberg, HPF G 6
Host:   Atac Imamoglu

Optical nanofibers: a platform for quantum optics

Luis Orozco
Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland & NIST, USA

Nanofibers produced by tapering an ordinary single mode optical fiber to diameters of half a micron are interesting optical objects. Evanescent fields, with large gradients, develop as the radius reaches less than the wavelength of light posing puzzles, questions, and opportunities to study the interaction of light and atoms.

Our recent experiments with cold Rb atoms around the nanofiber include the modification of the lifetime of the D2 line in the presence of the nanofiber and its relation to the single atom coupling. We find modifications of the lifetime that depend on the alignment of the dipole with respect to the nanofiber: parallel or perpendicular. We also explore collective effects in the atomic decay from the atomic excited that depend on the number of atoms interacting in the evanescent mode of the nanofiber.