Darmstadt 2008 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help

Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 57: Quanteneffekte (QED / Lichtstreuung)

Q 57.8: Talk

Friday, March 14, 2008, 12:45–13:00, 2D

Improving High-Finesse Cavities: Corrections beyond the Paraxial Approximation — •Martin Zeppenfeld, Michael Motsch, Pepijn W.H. Pinkse, and Gerhard Rempe — Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany

Increased atom-light interactions in a cavity due to many degenerate modes are of great interest for many experiments in quantum optics. While every second transverse mode of a confocal resonator is degenerate within the framework of the paraxial approximation, it is by no means to be expected that this remains the case when taking into account corrections to the paraxial approximation.

Spheroidal coordinates and the associated spheroidal wave functions can be used to construct a set of exact solutions to Maxwell’s equations in free space which reduce to the Laguerre-Gaussian modes in the short wavelength limit. Using these solutions, we calculated first-order corrections to the resonance frequencies of modes in a two-mirror Fabry-Perot resonator. For a confocal resonator, the mode degeneracy is lifted. The calculations are supported by measurements with a high finesse cavity.