Measuring a single atom's position with extreme sub-wavelength resolution and force measurements in the yoctonewton range
Quantum Physics
2024-07-29 v1 Atomic Physics
Abstract
The center-of-mass position of a single trapped atomic ion is measured and tracked in time with high precision. Employing a near-resonant radio frequency field of wavelength 2.37 cm and a static magnetic field gradient of 19 T/m, the spatial location of the ion is determined with an unprecedented wavelength-relative resolution of 5 10, corresponding to an absolute precision of 0.12 nm. Measurements of an electrostatic force on a single ion demonstrate a sensitivity of 2.2 10. The real-time measurement of an atom's position complements the well-established technique of scanning near-field radio frequency transmission microscopy and opens up a novel route to using this method with path breaking spatial and force resolution.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2407.18670,
title = {Measuring a single atom's position with extreme sub-wavelength resolution and force measurements in the yoctonewton range},
author = {P. H. Huber and P. Barthel and Th. Sriarunothai and G. S. Giri and S. Wölk and Ch. Wunderlich},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.18670},
year = {2024}
}