Atomic vapor-based turnstile device for single photons

This project aims at developing a source of Fourier-transform-limited single-photons which does not require ultra-highvacuum (UHV) or cryogenic environment. Thanks to these characteristics, such a source is ideally suited for practical applications. It relies on a novel approach based on a collectively enhanced resonant light-atom interaction within an ensemble of weakly coupled rubidium atoms in the vapor phase. The key mechanism is a photon-number dependent quantum interference that can modify the photon-statistics of a weak coherent state, i.e. bunching or antibunching, when travelling through the ensemble. Interestingly, when interacting with a critical number of atoms, the coherent state can be transformed into a stream of antibunched single photons. In such a case the ensemble acts as a single-photon turnstile.