Coherent control of excited atomic states inside a three-dimensional photonic bandgap

摘要

We demonstrate the coherent control of the excited state of an atom embedded in three-dimensional photonic bandgap (3D PBG) structures. The coherent control allows us to obtain a long-lifetime Rabi oscillation or several types of steady-state inversion, depending on the laser phase, in which the relaxation of an excited atom is strongly suppressed. Such a coherent control suggests the possibility of extending the atomic system to a low loss quantum logic gate for optical quantum computation.