Abstract

We consider a single-mode cavity field that is resonant with two-level atoms crossing the cavity in a sequence whose duration is much shorter than the cavity ring-down time (negligible dissipation). Conditional measurements selecting those sequences wherein each atom is “elastically scattered” (emerges in its initial state), can reduce an arbitrary initial field state to a Fock state, controllable by the field-atom interaction time.¹

© 1993 Optical Society of America