Capacitive coupling of atomic systems to mesoscopic conductors

We describe a technique that enables a strong, coherent coupling between isolated neutral atoms and mesoscopic conductors. The coupling is achieved by exciting atoms trapped above the surface of a superconducting transmission line into Rydberg states with large electric dipole moments that induce voltage fluctuations in the transmission line. Using a mechanism analogous to cavity quantum electrodynamics, an atomic state can be transferred to a long-lived mode of the fluctuating voltage, atoms separated by millimeters can be entangled, or the quantum state of a solid-state device can be mapped onto atomic or photonic states.