Abstract

Single atoms and photons can now be manipulated in experiments which would until recently have been considered as purely "gedanken" ones. The studies carried at Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris involve very excited Rydbergatoms coupled to high Q superconducting cavities[1]. The evolution of a single atom resonantly coupled to a field containing one photon or less on average in the cavity can be studied in details, revealing basic quantum features of this system and demonstrating in a striking way the quantizednature of light[2].

© 1996 Optical Society of America