Single-shot energy measurement of a single atom and the direct reconstruction of its energy distribution

Abstract

An ensemble of atoms in steady-state, whether in thermal equilibrium or not, has a well defined energy distribution. Since the energy of single atoms within the ensemble cannot be individually measured, energy distributions are typically inferred from statistical averages. Here, we show how to measure the energy of a single atom in a single experimental realization (single-shot). The energy distribution of the atom over many experimental realizations can thus be readily and directly obtained. We apply this method to a single-ion trapped in a linear Paul trap for which energy measurement in a single-shot is applicable from 10 K and above. Our energy measurement agrees within 5% to a different thermometry method which requires extensive averaging. Apart from the total energy, we also show that the motion of the ion in different trap modes can be distinguished. We believe that this method will have profound implications on single particle chemistry and collision experiments.

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Cited by in corpus (12)

• Cold hybrid ion-atom systems
• Experimental apparatus for overlapping a ground-state cooled ion with ultracold atoms
• Direct observation of atom-ion non-equilibrium sympathetic cooling
• Doppler cooling thermometry of a multi-level ion in the presence of micromotion
• Ultracold ion-atom experiments: cooling, chemistry, and quantum effects
• High-energy-resolution measurement of ultracold atom-ion collisional cross section
• Strong angular-momentum mixing in ultracold atom-ion excitation-exchange
• Combining experiments and relativistic theory for establishing accurate radiative quantities in atoms: the lifetime of the ${}^2$P${}_{3/2}$ state in ${}^{40}$Ca${}^{+}$
• Absolute Single Ion Thermometry
• Single-shot measurements of phonon number states using the Autler-Townes effect
• Motional state analysis of a trapped ion by ultra-narrowband composite pulses
• Ultracold Interactions between Ions and Polar Molecules