Quantum nonlinear four-wave mixing with a single atom in an optical cavity

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel four-wave mixing process in a single atom cavity QED system, enabling tunable quantum light with controllable photon statistics, advancing quantum optics and information applications.

Contribution

It introduces a new light generation method combining cavity QED and EIT, with all-optical control over photon pair emission.

Findings

Observation of a new light field via four-wave mixing in a single atom cavity

Tunable photon statistics from antibunching to bunching

Demonstration of all-optical control over photon-pair emission

Abstract

Single atom cavity quantum electrodynamics grants access to nonclassical photon statistics, while electromagnetically induced transparency exhibits a dark state of long coherence time. The combination of the two produces a new light field via four-wave mixing that shows long-lived quantum statistics. We observe the new field in the emission from the cavity as a beat with the probe light that together with the control beam and the cavity vacuum is driving the four-wave mixing process. Moreover, the control field allows us to tune the new light field from antibunching to bunching, demonstrating our all-optical control over the photon-pair emission.