Related papers: Measuring ion oscillations at the quantum level wi…
We show that it is possible to estimate the shape of an object by measuring only the fluctuations of a probing field, allowing us to expose the object to a minimal light intensity. This scheme, based on noise measurements through homodyne…
We have developed a novel all-optical broadband scheme for exciting, amplifying and measuring the secular motion of ions in a radio frequency trap. Oscillation induced by optical excitation has been coherently amplified to precisely control…
We analyze theoretically the motional quantum dynamics of a levitated dielectric sphere interacting with the quantum electromagnetic field beyond the point-dipole approximation. To this end, we derive a Hamiltonian describing the…
We study squeezed quantum states of phonons, which allow the possibility of modulating the quantum fluctuations of atomic displacements below the zero-point quantum noise level of coherent phonon states. We calculate the corresponding…
Young's double slit experiment has often been used to illustrate the concept of complementarity in quantum mechanics. If information can in principle be obtained about the path of the photon, then the visibility of the interference fringes…
A scheme is proposed, that allows one for performing homodyne detection of the matter-wave field of ultracold bosonic atoms. It is based on a pump-probe lasers setup, that both illuminates a Bose-Einstein condensate, acting as reference…
While the spontaneous emission from independent emitters provides spatially uncorrelated photons - a typical manifestation of quantum randomness, the interference of the coherent scattering leads to a well-defined intensity pattern - a…
Single dye molecules at cryogenic temperatures display many spectroscopic phenomena known from free atoms and are thus promising candidates for fundamental quantum optical studies. However, the existing techniques for the detection of…
We demonstrate a Doppler cooling and detection scheme for ions with low-lying D levels which almost entirely suppresses scattered laser light background, while retaining a high fluorescence signal and efficient cooling. We cool a single ion…
We experimentally demonstrate a method to determine the temperature of trapped ions which is suitable for monitoring fast thermalization processes. We show that observing and analyzing the lineshape of dark resonances in the fluorescence…
Quantum mechanics imposes a limit on the precision of a continuous position measurement of a harmonic oscillator, as a result of quantum backaction arising from quantum fluctuations in the measurement field. A variety of techniques to…
We describe a novel method to measure the surface charge densities on optical fibers placed in the vicinity of a trapped ion, where the ion itself acts as the probe. Surface charges distort the trapping potential, and when the fibers are…
Atomically confined spins are emerging as active components in quantum optoelectronic devices such as quantum bits and sensors. However, interrogating single spins at atomic length-scales remains a sizeable challenge, limited by diffraction…
The ability to detect extremely small forces is vital for a variety of disciplines including precision spin-resonance imaging, microscopy, and tests of fundamental physical phenomena. Current force-detection sensitivity limits have…
Resonant frequency modulation spectroscopy has been previously used as a highly-sensitive method for measuring the output of cold atom interferometers. Using a detailed model that accounts for optical saturation, laser intensities and…
Quantum measurements of mechanical systems can produce optical squeezing via ponderomotive forces. Its observation requires high environmental isolation and efficient detection, typically achieved by using optical cavities and cryogenic…
We experimentally demonstrate a detection scheme suitable for state analysis of single optically trapped atoms in less than 1 {\mu}s with an overall detection efficiency {\eta} exceeding 98%. The method is based on hyperfine-state-selective…
Interferometers provide a highly sensitive means to investigate and exploit the coherence properties of light in metrology applications. However, interferometers come in various forms and exploit different properties of the optical states…
We analyze several models of atomic detectors in the context of the measurement of coherence properties of matter waves. In particular, we show that an ionization scheme measures normally-ordered correlation functions of the Schr\"odinger…
State measurement of a quantum harmonic oscillator is essential in quantum optics and quantum information processing. In a system of trapped ions, we experimentally demonstrate the projective measurement of the state of the ions' motional…