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ALT'23 The 30th International Conference on Advanced Laser Technologies
P-I-1
Cold atoms meet quantum technologies
V.I. Balykin
Institute of Spectroscopy, RAS, Moscow, Russia
As a quantum mechanical system, the atom is characterized by two sets of degrees of freedom: internal (electron configurations and spin) and external (momentum and center-of-mass position), which can change in the interaction with laser radiation. Physics of ultracold atoms made their appearance due to successful investigations into the action of laser radiation on precisely the external degrees of freedom of the atom: its momentum and center- of-mass position. Laser cooling and the subsequent evaporative cooling allow obtaining both ultralow temperatures and ultrahigh atomic densities, which in turn permits realizing quantum Bose and Fermi gases.
Cooled and trapped atoms open the door of studies of the interaction of light with matter at the level of single atoms and photons that not only provide a deeper understanding of the quantum-mechanical nature of the light-matter interaction but also open up prospects for new quantum technologies. The possibility of achieving single-particle interaction is basic to the concept of quantum information processing and communication: atoms are treated as physical objects that can store and process information, and photons as objects for long-range data transmission through a quantum information network. The quantum information network can comprise, for instance, single atoms (ions, molecules, or quantum dots) representing addressable points of the quantum information network and optical (or other) waveguides providing photon- assisted effective connections among nodes of the quantum information network. We will review the work on the deterministic control of single atoms and single photons, and on establishing conditions for their efficient interaction.
