All conventional methods to laser-cool atoms rely on repeated cycles of optical pumping and spontaneous emission of a photon by the atom. Spontaneous emission in a random direction is the dissipative mechanism required to remove entropy from the atom. However, alternative cooling methods have been proposed 1, 2 for a single atom strongly coupled to a high-finesse cavity; the role of spontaneous...

Quantum gravity gradiometers based on atom interferometry hold the promise for greater sensitivity and suitability for Earth science applications. Such instruments can potentially provide not only high resolution mapping of mass distribution both above and below the surface of the planet, but also temporal monitoring of its dynamical processes. These capabilities will significantly advance our ...

Nearly one decade after the first observation of Bose-Einstein condensation in atom vapors and realization of matter-wave (atom) lasers, similar concepts have been demonstrated recently for polaritons: half-matter, half-light quasiparticles in semiconductor microcavities. The half-light nature of polaritons makes polariton lasers promising as a new source of coherent and nonclassical light with...

Preformed plasma waveguides capable of controllably guiding relativistically intense femtosecond laser pulses over multiple Rayleigh lengths without optical distortion are essential to developing GeV-scale laser wakefield accelerators (LWFAs). We present recent experimental results showing guiding of pulses at intensities above 10 W/cm. Pump-probe experiments further characterize guided pulse p...

We demonstrate matter-wave interference in a warm vapor of rubidium atoms. Established approaches to light-pulse atom interferometry rely on laser cooling to concentrate a large ensemble of atoms into a velocity class resonant with the atom optical light pulse. In our experiment, we show that clear interference signals may be obtained without laser cooling. This effect relies on the Doppler sel...

We show that a single, trapped, laser-driven atom in a high-finesse optical cavity allows for the quantum-coherent generation of entangled light pulses on demand. Schemes for generating simultaneous and temporally separated pulse pairs are proposed. The mechanical effect of the laser excitation on the quantum motion of the cold trapped atom mediates the entangling interaction between two cavity...