Related papers: Trapping and detection of single atoms using a sph…

We present an approach for trapping cold atoms in a 2D optical trap array generated with a novel 4f filtering scheme and custom transmission mask without any active device. The approach can be used to generate arrays of bright or dark…

The use of a wire mesh facilitates creation of multiple optical traps for manipulation of small micron or sub-micron particles. Such an array of optical traps can be easily controlled. The trap that is formed in this manner is a continuous…

When subjected to monochromatic incident light a nanoparticle will emit light which then interferes with the incident beam. With sufficient contrast and sufficiently close to the particle this interference pattern may be recorded with a…

The smallest possible focus is achieved when the focused wave front is the time reversed copy of the light wave packet emitted from a point in space (S. Quabis et al., Opt. Commun. 179 (2000) 1-7). The best physical implementation of such a…

We propose a novel dipole trapping scheme using spatial light modulators (SLM) for the manipulation of individual atoms. The scheme uses a high numerical aperture microscope to map the intensity distribution of a SLM onto a cloud of cold…

Efficient coupling of light to single atomic systems has gained considerable attention over the past decades. This development is driven by the continuous growth of quantum technologies. The efficient coupling of light and matter is an…

We present a novel technique for measuring the characteristics of a magneto-optical trap for cold atoms by monitoring the spontaneous emission from trapped atoms coupled into the guided mode of a tapered optical nanofiber. We show that the…

Optomechanical systems are suitable for elucidating quantum phenomena at the macroscopic scale in the sense of the mass scale. The systems should be well-isolated from the environment to avoid classical noises, which conceal quantum…

By tightly focussing a laser field onto a single cold ion trapped in front of a far-distant dielectric mirror, we could observe a quantum electrodynamic effect whereby the ion behaves as the optical mirror of a Fabry-P\'erot cavity. We show…

Concave mirrors are fundamental optical elements, yet some easily observed behaviors are rarely addressed in standard textbooks, such as the formation of multiple reflected images. Here we investigate self-imaging -- where the observer is…

Optical dipole micro-traps for atoms based on constructive superposition of two-colour evanescent light waves, formed by corresponding optical modes of two crossed suspended photonic rib waveguides, are modelled. The main parameters of the…

We propose a theoretical scheme for atomic cooling, i.e. the compression of both velocity and position distribution of particles in motion. This is achieved by collisions of the particles with a combination of a moving atomic mirror and a…

For several decades, ions have been trapped by radio frequency (RF) and neutral particles by optical fields. We implement the experimental proof-of-principle for trapping an ion in an optical dipole trap. While loading, initialization and…

We have developed a unique neutralizer device that uses an yttrium target surrounded by a platinum wall to magneto-optically trap radioactive atoms. In general, the radioactive nucleus produced in a nuclear reaction is extracted and…

Motivated by a recent experiment [J. Eschner {\it et al.}, Nature {\bf 413}, 495 (2001)], we now present a theoretical study on the fluorescence of an atom in front of a mirror. On the assumption that the presence of the distant mirror and…

Since the early work by Ashkin in 1970, optical trapping has become one of the most powerful tools for manipulating small particles, such as micron sized beads or single atoms. The optical trapping mechanism is based on the interaction…

We present a laser beam shaping method using acousto-optic deflection of light and discuss its application to dipole trapping of ultracold atoms. By driving the acousto-optic deflector with multiple frequencies, we generate an array of…

We propose and analyze a scheme to interface individual neutral atoms with nanoscale solid-state systems. The interface is enabled by optically trapping the atom via the strong near-field generated by a sharp metallic nanotip. We show that…

All light has structure, but only recently it has become possible to construct highly controllable and precise potentials so that most laboratories can harness light for their specific applications. In this chapter, we review the emerging…

The coherence time of an optically trapped neutral atom is a crucial parameter for quantum technologies. We found that optical dipole traps with higher-order spatial forms inherently offer lower decoherence rates compared to those with…