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arXiv:1002.2918 · Physical Review Letters

Lossless State Detection of Single Neutral Atoms

Joerg Bochmann, Martin Mücke, Conrad Guhl, Stephan Ritter, Gerhard Rempe, David L. Moehring

Published May 20, 2010• 98 citations
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Abstract

We introduce lossless state detection of trapped neutral atoms based on cavity-enhanced fluorescence. In an experiment with a single 87Rb atom, a hyperfine-state-detection fidelity of 99.4% is achieved in 85 μs. The quantum bit is interrogated many hundreds of times without loss of the atom while a result is obtained in every readout attempt. The fidelity proves robust against atomic frequency shifts induced by the trapping potential. Our scheme does not require strong coupling between the atom and cavity and can be generalized to other systems with an optically accessible quantum bit.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.104.203601

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We introduce lossless state detection of trapped neutral atoms based on cavity-enhanced fluorescence. In an experiment with a single 87Rb atom, a hyperfine-state-detection fidelity of 99.4% is achieved in 85 μs. The quantum bit is interrogated many hundreds of times without loss of the atom while a result is obtained in every readout attempt. The fidelity proves robust against atomic frequency shifts induced by the trapping potential. Our scheme does not require strong coupling between the atom and cavity and can be generalized to other systems with an optically accessible quantum bit.
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In this thesis, a model system of quantum optics is experimentally studied - a single atom coupled to a high-finesse optical cavity. Upon excitation with laser pulses, the atom-cavity system undergoes vacuum Rabi oscillations between the atom and the cavity field. This is accompanied by the controlled emission of single photons. The optical resonator also enables efficient state detection of single neutral atoms. We introduce a method based on cavity-enhanced fluorescence and achieve a fidelity of 99.4 % for the detection of the atomic hyperfine state within 85 µs. Further, this thesis presents experiments on electromagnetically induced transparency with a single atom and on phase shaping of single photon wave packets. The atom-cavity system has promising applications in quantum information science.
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.
The capability to measure the state of a neutral atom is vital to an atom-based quantum network, for applications including distributed quantum computing and long-distance quantum communication. However, single neutral atoms suffer from low achievable photon scattering rate and shallow trapping potential, which limits the fidelity and speed of state readout process. Here, by coupling a single neutral atom with a high-finesse fiber-based Fabry-Pérot microcavity in the Purcell regime, we realize strong enhancement of the atomic photoemission rate and high overall system efficiency, which enables ultrafast and high-fidelity discrimination of bright and dark hyperfine states of the atom. The readout fidelity can reach 99.1(2)% within 200 ns and 99.985(8)% within 9 μs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that state preparation via optical pumping can be efficiently accelerated by a real-time decision protocol based on ultrafast state readout. This work demonstrates the potential to serve as a high-performance atom-photon interface and paves the way to the implementation of a practical atom-based quantum network.
We achieve fast, nondestructive quantum-state readout via fluorescence detection of a single 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atom in the 5S1/25{S}_{1/2}5S1/2​ (F=2)(F=2)(F=2) ground state held in an optical dipole trap. The atom is driven by linearly polarized readout laser beams, making the scheme insensitive to the distribution of atomic population in magnetic sublevels. We demonstrate a readout fidelity of $97.6\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.2%$ in a readout time of $160\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}20\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{s}$ with the atom retained in >97>97%>97 of the trials, representing an advancement over other magnetic-state-insensitive techniques. We demonstrate that the F=2F=2F=2 state is partially protected from optical pumping by the distribution of the dipole matrix elements for the various transitions and the ac-Stark shifts from the optical trap. Our results are likely to find application in neutral-atom quantum computing and simulation.