Mainz 2026 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 28: Poster – Quantum Optics
Q 28.17: Poster
Tuesday, March 3, 2026, 17:00–19:00, Philo 2. OG
Spontaneous emission in the presence of a hemispherical mirror — •Yannick Weiser, Tommaso Faorlin, Lorenz Panzl, Giovanni Cerchiari, and Rainer Blatt — Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Experimentalphysik, Technikerstraße 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
We control the spontaneous emission of a trapped 138Ba+ ion by back reflecting the fluorescence light of the ion to itself via a mirror. Due to this retro reflection, the emitted photon interferes with itself, which enhances, or suppresses the observed emission rate, depending on the ion-mirror distance. Previous systems used lenses to guide the fluorescence light to a planar mirror. This approach limits the controllable portion of solid angle. Instead in a new system, called the Panopticon setup, the ion is placed in the center of curvature of a hemispherical mirror with NA = 0.996.
Future experiments enabled by the high-NA control of the mirror will investigate the alteration of the spontaneous emission rate in the presence of the hemispherical mirror. A suppression down to 6% of the natural rate of spontaneous emission is predicted in a realistic scenario. Since this effect on the emission rate is wavelength dependent, the natural branching ratio is influenced by the presence of the hemispherical mirror in a wavelength dependent way.
A hemispherical mirror spanning a large large part of the solid angle may also reshape the spatial distribution of emitted fluorescence light, enabling one to tailor the emission towards a preferred direction.
Keywords: back action; spontaneous emission; ion trap; high NA