Cooling a single atom in an optical tweezer to its quantum ground state

Abstract

We report cooling of a single neutral atom to its three-dimensional vibrational ground state in an optical tweezer. After employing Raman sideband cooling for tens of milliseconds, we measure via sideband spectroscopy a three-dimensional ground-state occupation of ~90%. We further observe coherent control of the spin and motional state of the trapped atom. Our demonstration shows that an optical tweezer, formed simply by a tightly focused beam of light, creates sufficient confinement for efficient sideband cooling. This source of ground-state neutral atoms will be instrumental in numerous quantum simulation and logic applications that require a versatile platform for storing and manipulating ultracold single neutral atoms. For example, these results will improve current optical tweezer experiments studying atom-photon coupling and Rydberg quantum logic gates, and could provide new opportunities such as rapid production of single dipolar molecules or quantum simulation in tweezer arrays.

Updated intro, title

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• Fictitious magnetic field gradients in optical microtraps as an experimental tool for interrogating and manipulating cold atoms
• Raman cooling imaging: Detecting single atoms near their ground state of motion
• Zeeman-insensitive cooling of a single atom to its two-dimensional motional ground state in tightly focused optical tweezers
• Effective many-body parameters for atoms in non-separable Gaussian optical potentials
• Measurement and extinction of vector light shifts using interferometry of spinor condensates
• Carrier-free Raman manipulation of trapped neutral atoms