Deterministic single-photon source from a single ion

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a highly efficient, deterministic single-photon source using a calcium ion in a high-finesse cavity, with improved photon creation efficiency and suppressed multi-photon events, advancing quantum communication technologies.

Contribution

The work introduces a deterministic single-photon source with significantly improved efficiency and suppressed multi-photon events, along with detailed analysis of atom-photon dynamics.

Findings

Photon creation efficiency of 88% with low background noise

High suppression of two-photon events demonstrated

Good agreement between experimental pulse shape and simulation

Abstract

We realize a deterministic single-photon source from one and the same calcium ion interacting with a high-finesse optical cavity. Photons are created in the cavity with efficiency (88 +- 17)%, a tenfold improvement over previous cavity-ion sources. Results of the second-order correlation function are presented, demonstrating a high suppression of two-photon events limited only by background counts. The cavity photon pulse shape is obtained, with good agreement between experiment and simulation. Moreover, theoretical analysis of the temporal evolution of the atomic populations provides relevant information about the dynamics of the process and opens the way to future investigations of a coherent atom-photon interface.