We present a reliable and robust integrated fluorescence detector capable of detecting single atoms. The detector consists of a tapered lensed single-mode fiber for precise delivery of excitation light and a multimode fiber to collect the fluorescence. Both are mounted in lithographically defined SU-8 holding structures on an atom chip. Rb87 atoms propagating freely in a magnetic guide are detected with an efficiency of up to 66%, and a signal-to-noise ratio in excess of 100 is obtained for short integration times.
@article{arxiv.0801.3255,
title = {A simple integrated single-atom detector},
author = {Marco Wilzbach and Dennis Heine and Sönke Groth and Xiyuan Liu and Thomas Raub and Björn Hessmo and Jörg Schmiedmayer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0801.3255},
year = {2009}
}