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

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.

6 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Correlations and Counting Statistics of an Atom Laser
• Nano Positioning of Single Atoms in a Micro Cavity
• Vacuum-stimulated cooling of single atoms in three dimensions

Cited by in corpus (8)

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• Spatial Light Modulators for the Manipulation of Individual Atoms
• Momentum correlations of a few ultra-cold bosons escaping from an open well