We investigate the interaction between a single atom and optical pulses in a coherent state with a controlled temporal envelope. In a comparison between a rising exponential and a square envelope, we show that the rising exponential envelope leads to
a higher excitation probability for fixed low average photon numbers, in accordance to a time-reversed Weisskopf-Wigner model. We characterize the atomic transition dynamics for a wide range of the average photon numbers, and are able to saturate the optical transition of a single atom with ~50 photons in a pulse by a strong focusing technique. For photon numbers of ~1000 in a 15ns long pulse, we clearly observe Rabi oscillations.
We report on a simple method to prepare optical pulses with exponentially rising envelope on the time scale of a few ns. The scheme is based on the exponential transfer function of a fast transistor, which generates an exponentially rising envelope t
hat is transferred first on a radio frequency carrier, and then on a coherent cw laser beam with an electro-optical phase modulator (EOM). The temporally shaped sideband is then extracted with an optical resonator and can be used to efficiently excite a single Rb-87 atom.
We characterize the interaction between a single atom or similar microscopic system and a light field via the scattering ratio. For that, we first derive the electrical field in a strongly focused Gaussian light beam, and then consider the atomic res
ponse. Following the simple scattering model, the fraction of scattered optical power for a weak coherent probe field leads to unphysical scattering ratios above 1 in the strong focusing regime. A refined model considering interference between exciting and scattered field into finite-sized detectors or optical fibers is presented, and compared to experimental extinction measurements for various focusing strengths.
