From Lamb shift to light shifts: Vacuum and subphoton cavity fields measured by atomic phase sensitive detection
- 23 May 1994
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 72 (21) , 3339-3342
Abstract
We have measured by Ramsey interferometry the dispersive light shifts produced on circular Rydberg states by very weak nonresonant microwave fields in a single cavity mode. This experiment yields an absolute measurement of mean photon numbers with a sensitivity of 0.1. The vacuum induced Lamb shift, equal to the light shift of ‘‘half a photon,’’ has been observed, providing a direct and absolute measurement of the zero-point field fluctuations in a cavity mode.Keywords
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