Resonance fluorescence of a single artificial atom.
An atom in open space can be detected by means of resonant absorption and reemission of electromagnetic waves, known as resonance fluorescence, which is a fundamental phenomenon of quantum optics. We report on the observation of scattering of propagating waves by a single artificial atom. The behavior of the artificial atom, a superconducting macroscopic two-level system, is in a quantitative agreement with the predictions of quantum optics for a pointlike scatterer interacting with the electromagnetic field in one-dimensional open space. The strong atom-field interaction as revealed in a high degree of extinction of propagating waves will allow applications of controllable artificial atoms in quantum optics and photonics.
NEC Nano Electronics Research Laboratories, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8501, Japan. astf@zb.jp.nec.com
O
O
Astafiev
A M
AM
Zagoskin
A A
AA
Abdumalikov
Yu A
YA
Pashkin
T
T
Yamamoto
K
K
Inomata
Y
Y
Nakamura
J S
JS
Tsai