title: Saturated absorption at nanowatt power levels using metastable xenon in a high-finesse optical cavity.
abstract: Strong saturated absorption at nanowatt power levels has been demonstrated using metastable xenon in a high finesse optical cavity. The use of metastable xenon allows a high quality factor of Q = 2 × 10(8) to be achieved at relatively high atomic densities without any contamination or damage to the optical surfaces, which is often a problem when using high-density rubidium or other alkali atoms. This technique provides a relatively straightforward way to produce nonlinearities at the single-photon level with possible applications in quantum communications and computing.
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Hickman
authors.forename: T B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Pittman
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Franson
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003776:Dental Porcelain; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017785:Photons; D012413:Rubidium; D014978:Xenon
chemical_list: D003776:Dental Porcelain; D014978:Xenon; C037884:finesse; D012413:Rubidium