By integrating the techniques of laser cooling and trapping with those of cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED), single Cesium atoms have been trapped within the mode of a small, high finesse optical cavity in a regime of strong coupling. The observed lifetime for individual atoms trapped within the cavity mode is τ≈28ms, and is limited by fluctuations of light forces arising from the far-detuned intracavity field. This initial realization of trapped atoms in cavity QED should enable diverse protocols in quantum information science.
@article{arxiv.quant-ph/9908007,
title = {Trapping of single atoms in cavity QED},
author = {J. Ye and D. W. Vernooy and H. J. Kimble},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/9908007},
year = {2009}
}