Single Photon Absorption by a Single Quantum Emitter
Dorothea Pinotsi, Ataç İmamoğlu · Physical Review Letters · 2008
We show that a three-level lambda quantum emitter with equal spontaneous emission rates on both optically active transitions can absorb an incident single-photon pulse with a probability approaching unity, provided that the focused light profile matches that of the emitter dipole emission. Even with realistic focusing geometries, our results could find applications in long-distance entanglement of spin qubits.