Cavity QED with cold trapped ions

Abstract

We analyze the quantum motion of a cold, trapped two-level ion interacting with a quantized light field in a single-mode cavity. We show that in the nonclassical Lamb-Dicke limit the time evolution of the vibrational mode representing the quantized motion of the center of mass of the trapped ion is very sensitive to the quantum statistics of the light field. We also show that the system under consideration may evolve into the maximally entangled three-particle Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state. We briefly discuss the dynamics of a cluster of two-level ions trapped in a cavity and interacting with a quantized light field.