Hong-Ou-Mandel interference with a single atom

The Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect is widely regarded as the quintessential quantum interference phenomenon in optics. In this work we examine how nonlinearity can smear statistical photon bunching in the HOM interferometer. We model both the nonlinearity and a balanced beam splitter with a single two-level system and calculate a finite probability of anti-bunching arising in this geometry. We thus argue that the presence of such nonlinearity would reduce the visibility in the standard HOM setup, offering some explanation for the diminution of the HOM visibility observed in many experiments. We use the same model to show that the nonlinearity affects a resonant two-photon propagation through a two-level impurity in a waveguide due to a " weak photon blockade" caused by the impossibility of double-occupancy and argue that this effect might be stronger for multi-photon propagation.

Diffractive variable attenuator for femtosecond laser radiation control

We present a diffractive phase variable attenuator for femtosecond laser radiation control. It allows the control of beam power up to 0.75 10 ¹³ W/cm² without introducing serious distortions in spectra and beam shape while it operates in zero order diffraction. The attenuator can operate with wavelengths from DUV to IR. © 2009 Optical Society of America.