Related papers: Diffraction limited optics for single atom manipul…
We present methods and results of the testing of an inexpensive home-made diffraction limited lens system, the design of which was proposed in a recent paper and which has since been used (with slight alterations) by several research…
A technique to levitate and measure the three-dimensional position of micrometer-sized dielectric spheres with heterodyne detection is presented. The two radial degrees of freedom are measured by interfering light transmitted through the…
We recently demonstrated that strings of trapped atoms inside a standing wave optical dipole trap can be rearranged using optical tweezers [Y. Miroshnychenko et al., Nature, in press (2006)]. This technique allows us to actively set the…
We report on the implementation of an optical tweezer system for controlled transport of ultracold atoms along a narrow, static confinement channel. The tweezer system is based on high-efficiency acousto-optical deflectors and offers…
Trapping of single ultracold atoms is an important tool for applications ranging from quantum computation and communication to sensing. However, most experimental setups, while very precise and versatile, can only be operated in specialized…
Neutral atoms trapped by laser light are amongst the most promising candidates for storing and processing information in a quantum computer or simulator. The application certainly calls for a scalable and flexible scheme for addressing and…
We have recently demonstrated the creation of regular strings of neutral caesium atoms in a standing wave optical dipole trap using optical tweezers [Y. Miroshnychenko et al., Nature, in press (2006)]. The rearrangement is realized…
Optically levitated dielectric nanoparticles have become valuable tools for precision sensing and quantum optomechanical experiments. To predict the dynamic properties of a particle trapped in an optical tweezer with high fidelity, a tool…
Optical dipole traps and atom chips are two very powerful tools for the quantum manipulation of neutral atoms. We demonstrate that both methods can be combined by creating an optical lattice potential on an atom chip. A red-detuned laser…
We experimentally demonstrate an atom number detector capable of simultaneous detection of two mesoscopic ensembles with single-atom resolution. Such a sensitivity is a prerequisite for quantum metrology at a precision approaching the…
An on-chip multi-grating device is proposed to interface single-atoms and integrated photonic circuits, by guiding and focusing lasers to the area with ~10um above the chip for trapping, state manipulation, and readout of single Rubidium…
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…
Optical tweezer arrays have emerged as a key experimental platform for quantum computation, quantum simulation, and quantum metrology, enabling unprecedented levels of control over single atoms and molecules. However, existing tweezer…
We demonstrate in this paper a method to reconstruct the atom number distribution of a cloud containing a few tens of cold atoms. The atoms are first loaded from a magneto-optical trap into a microscopic optical dipole trap and then…
Reconfigurable arrays of trapped single atoms are an excellent platform for the simulation of many-body physics and the realisation of high-fidelity quantum gates. The confinement of atoms is often achieved with focussed laser beams acting…
We propose an enantioselective scheme to sort homogeneous chiral particles using optical tweezers. For a certain range of material parameters, we show that a highly focused circularly-polarized laser beam traps particles of a specific…
We present a pair of optimized objective lenses with long working distances of 117~mm and 65~mm respectively that offer diffraction limited performance for both Cs and Rb wavelengths when imaging through standard vacuum windows. The designs…
Recording the fluorescence of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) is a standard tool for measuring atom numbers in experiments with ultracold atoms. When trapping few atoms in a small MOT, the emitted fluorescence increases with the atom number in…
We demonstrate the lossless state-selective detection of a single rubidium 87 atom trapped in an optical tweezer. This detection is analogous to the one used on trapped ions. After preparation in either a dark or bright state, we probe the…
We present a high-resolution, simple and versatile system for imaging ultracold Rydberg atoms in optical lattices. The imaging objective is a single aspheric lens (with a working distance of 20.6 mm and a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.51)…