The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 12, 1999
Filed:
Nov. 30, 1995
Kyungwon An, Woburn, MA (US);
James J Childs, Reading, MA (US);
Ramachandra Rao Dasari, Lexington, MA (US);
Michael S Feld, Newton, MA (US);
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
In a single-atom microlaser, a pair of opposed reflectors define a high-finesse or 'high-Q' optical cavity therebetween. A source delivers a stream of multiple-energy-level atoms or particles into the cavity. Each individual atom in the stream is excited by a pump from a lower energy level to an upper energy level before injection into the cavity. The cavity resonance frequency is substantially matched to the frequency of a photon emitted by each atom as it enters the cavity. The photon is emitted due to a transition in energy between the upper level and lower level of each atom. In this manner, upon entry of a sequence of individual atoms into the cavity for example, the average number of photons resonating in the cavity exceeds one and the average number of atoms in the cavity is less than one. The photons are sustained in the high-Q cavity for a long enough time period such that the photon field interacts with the next atom in the stream. A beam of coherent light in the optical frequency spectrum is emitted from the cavity.