Hannover 2010 – scientific programme
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A: Fachverband Atomphysik
A 16: Ultra-Cold Atoms: Single Atoms (with Q)
A 16.3: Talk
Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 17:15–17:30, A 320
Highly efficient, sub microsecond photoionisation detection of single 87Rb atoms — •Florian Henkel1, Michael Krug1, Julian Hofmann1, Wenjamin Rosenfeld1, Markus Weber1, and Harald Weinfurter1,2 — 1Department für Physik der LMU, Schellingstrasse 4/III, 80799 München — 2Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching
We experimentally demonstrate a technique suitable for detecting single optically trapped atoms in less than 1 µs with high efficiency. The scheme is based on hyperfine-state-selective photoionisation of single atoms and subsequent detection of the correlated photoion-electron pairs via two channel electron multipliers. By coincidently counting these single pairs [1], both detectors are calibrated to absolute values, with single detector efficiencies exceeding ηele = (0.875 ± 0.002) and ηion = (0.926 ± 0.010). Moreover, defining both as a joint CEM detector, a single neutral atom detection efficiency of η = (0.991 ± 0.002) within t=389.3±3.6 ns following an ionisation event is achieved.
The detection scheme has a potential range of fundamental applications such as real-time probing of ultracold ensembles with sub-poissonian accuracy, as destructive, single-shot readout unit for atomic qubits or as detector for a loophole-free test of Bell’s inequality with a pair of trapped atoms at remote locations [1].
[1] J. Dunworth et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 11, 167 (1940), P. Kwiat et al., Appl. Opt. 33, 1844 (1994).
[2] T. Campey et al., Phys. Rev. A 74, 043612-9 (2006), W. Rosenfeld et al., Adv. Sci. Lett. 2, 469 (2009).