1.
Phys Rev Lett
; 106(13): 133003, 2011 Apr 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21517380
ABSTRACT
We demonstrate the lossless state-selective detection of a single rubidium 87 atom trapped in an optical tweezer. This detection is analogous to the one used on trapped ions. After preparation in either a dark or a bright state, we probe the atom internal state by sending laser light that couples an excited state to the bright state only. The laser-induced fluorescence is collected by a high numerical aperture lens. The single-shot fidelity of the detection is 98.6±0.2% and is presently limited by the dark count noise of the detector. The simplicity of this method opens new perspectives in view of applications to quantum manipulations of neutral atoms.