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Efficient saturation of an ion in free space

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Abstract

We report on the demonstration of a light-matter interface coupling light to a single \(^{174}\hbox {Yb}^+\) ion in free space. The interface is realized through a parabolic mirror partially surrounding the ion. It transforms a Laguerre–Gaussian beam into a linear dipole wave converging at the mirror’s focus. By measuring the non-linear response of the atomic transition, we deduce the power required for reaching an upper-level population of \(1/4\) to be \(692\pm 20\,\hbox {pW}\) at half linewidth detuning from the atomic resonance. Performing this measurement while scanning the ion through the focus provides a map of the focal intensity distribution. From the measured power, we infer a coupling efficiency of \(7.2\pm 0.2\,\%\) on the linear dipole transition when illuminating from half solid angle, being among the best coupling efficiencies reported for a single atom in free space.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank S. Heugel for fruitful discussions. M. S. acknowledges financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). G. L. wants to thank the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for financial support in the framework of the joint research project QuORep.

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Author notes

  1. Robert Maiwald

    Present address: Physikalisches Institut, University of Bonn, Bonn, 53115, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Optics, Information and Photonics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Staudtstr. 7/B2, 91058, Erlangen, Germany

    Martin Fischer, Marianne Bader, Robert Maiwald, Andrea Golla, Markus Sondermann & Gerd Leuchs

  2. Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Guenther-Scharowsky-Str. 1/Bldg. 24, 91058, Erlangen, Germany

    Martin Fischer, Marianne Bader, Andrea Golla, Markus Sondermann & Gerd Leuchs

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  1. Martin Fischer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martin Fischer.

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Martin Fischer and Marianne Bader have contributed equally to this work.

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Fischer, M., Bader, M., Maiwald, R. et al. Efficient saturation of an ion in free space. Appl. Phys. B 117, 797–801 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-014-5817-y

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