Vacuum-Field Level Shifts in a Single Trapped Ion Mediated by a Single Distant Mirror

Abstract

A distant mirror leads to a vacuum-induced level shift in a laser-excited atom. This effect has been measured with a single mirror 25 cm away from a single, trapped barium ion. This dispersive action is the counterpart to the mirror’s dissipative effect, which has been shown earlier to effect a change in the ion’s spontaneous decay [J. Eschner et al., Nature (London) 413, 495 (2001)]. The experimental data are well described by eight-level optical Bloch equations which are amended to take into account the presence of the mirror according to the model in U. Dorner and P. Zoller, Phys. Rev. A 66, 023816 (2002). Observed deviations from simple dispersive behavior are attributed to multilevel effects.