Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Ultracold atoms

A switchable atomic mirror

Controlling the response of a material to light at the single-atom level is a key factor for many quantum technologies. An experiment now shows how to control the optical properties of an atomic array by manipulating the state of a single atom.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Experimental setup for the realization of a switchable atomic mirror.

References

  1. Bloch, I. Nat. Phys. 1, 23–30 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Srakaew, K. et al. Nat. Phys. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-01959-y (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Weitenberg, C. et al. Nature 471, 319–324 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Shahmoon, E., Wild, D. S., Lukin, M. D. & Yelin, S. F. Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 113601 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bettles, R. J., Gardiner, S. A. & Adams, C. S. Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 103602 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Asenjo-Garcia, A. et al. Phys. Rev. X 7, 031024 (2017).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Rui, J. et al. Nature 583, 369–374 (2020).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Bekenstein, R. et al. Nat. Phys. 16, 676–681 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Guimond, P.-O. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 093601 (2019).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Rusconi, C. C., Shi, T. & Ignacio Cirac, J. Phys. Rev. A 104, 033718 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rivka Bekenstein.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bekenstein, R., Yelin, S.F. A switchable atomic mirror. Nat. Phys. 19, 619–620 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-01989-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-01989-6

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing