corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. A » Volume 67 » Issue 4
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. A 67, 043806 (2003) [9 pages]

Possibility of single-atom detection on a chip

Download: PDF (146 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

Peter Horak and Bruce G. Klappauf
Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom

Albrecht Haase, Ron Folman, and Jörg Schmiedmayer
Physikalisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany

Peter Domokos
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria

E. A. Hinds
Sussex Centre for Optical and Atomic Physics, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, United Kingdom

Received 30 September 2002; published 11 April 2003

We investigate the optical detection of single atoms held in a microscopic atom trap close to a surface. Laser light is guided by optical fibers or optical microstructures via the atom to a photodetector. Our results suggest that with present-day technology microcavities can be built around the atom with sufficiently high finesse to permit unambiguous detection of a single atom in the trap with 10μs of integration. We compare resonant and nonresonant detection schemes and discuss the requirements for detecting an atom without causing it to undergo spontaneous emission.

© 2003 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.67.043806
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevA.67.043806
PACS:
42.50.Ct, 32.80.Pj, 03.75.Be
 
< Previous Article | Next Article >