English

Time-resolved and state-selective detection of single freely falling atoms

Quantum Physics 2011-09-06 v2 Atomic Physics

Abstract

We report on the detection of single, slowly moving Rubidium atoms using laser-induced fluorescence. The atoms move at 3 m/s while they are detected with a time resolution of 60 microseconds. The detection scheme employs a near-resonant laser beam that drives a cycling atomic transition, and a highly efficient mirror setup to focus a large fraction of the fluorescence photons to a photomultiplier tube. It counts on average 20 photons per atom.

Cite

@article{arxiv.quant-ph/0512006,
  title  = {Time-resolved and state-selective detection of single freely falling atoms},
  author = {Torsten Bondo and Markus Hennrich and Thomas Legero and Gerhard Rempe and Axel Kuhn},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/0512006},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

6 pages, 7 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-22T19:52:22.357Z