Nondestructive interaction-free atom-photon controlled-NOT gate

Abstract

We present a probabilistic (ideally 50%) nondestructive interaction-free atom-photon controlled-NOT gate, where nondestructive means that all four outgoing target photon modes of the gate are available and feed-forwardable. Individual atoms are controlled by a stimulated Raman adiabatic passage transition and photons by a ring resonator with two outgoing ports. Realistic estimates we obtain for ions confined in a Paul trap around which the resonator is mounted show that a strong atom-photon coupling can be achieved. It is also shown how the resonator can be used for controlling superposition of atom states.