We trap a single cesium atom in a standing-wave optical dipole trap. Special experimental procedures, designed to work with single atoms, are used to measure the oscillation frequency and the atomic energy distribution in the dipole trap. These methods rely on unambiguously detecting presence or loss of the atom using its resonance fluorescence in the magneto-optical trap.
@article{arxiv.quant-ph/0211066,
title = {Single atoms in a standing-wave dipole trap},
author = {Wolfgang Alt and Dominik Schrader and Stefan Kuhr and Martin Mueller and Victor Gomer and Dieter Meschede},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/0211066},
year = {2009}
}