Abstract
We demonstrate a fiber-optical switch that is activated at tiny energies corresponding to a few hundred optical photons per pulse. This is achieved by simultaneously confining both photons and a small laser-cooled ensemble of atoms inside the microscopic hollow core of a single-mode photonic-crystal fiber and using quantum optical techniques for generating slow light propagation and large nonlinear interaction between light beams.
- Received 3 January 2009
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.203902
©2009 American Physical Society
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Optical switching with cold atoms
Published 18 May 2009
Loading cold atoms into a hollow-core optical fiber enables all-optical switching with just several hundred photons.
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