Hannover 2010 – scientific programme

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SYSA: Symposium Single Atoms

SYSA 1: Single Atoms I

SYSA 1.2: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 11, 2010, 11:00–11:30, A 320

Optical detection of single trapped atoms with less than one spontaneous emission — Jürgen Volz, Roger Gehr, Guilhem Dubois, Jérôme Estève, and •Jakob Reichel — Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, ENS/CNRS/UPMC, Paris

Coherence times of several seconds have been demonstrated for neutral atomic ensembles trapped on atom chips. Combining this feature with efficient single-atom preparation and detection methods may enable quantum engineering in a style similar to ion traps, while maintaining the attractive simplicity of an atom chip experiment.

We have developed such techniques using a fiber Fabry-Perot (FFP) cavity on the chip, which works in the strong coupling regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics. Starting from a small BEC trapped inside the cavity mode, it enables us to prepare a single atom in a well-known hyperfine and Zeeman state, and to detect this atom with a back action of less than one spontaneous emission.