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arXiv:1212.3270 · Physical Review A

Number-resolved imaging of excited-state atoms using a scanning autoionization microscope

G. Lochead, D. Boddy, D. P. Sadler, Charles S. Adams, M. P. A. Jones

Published May 1, 2013• 53 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We report on a scanning microscopy technique for atom-number-resolved imaging of excited-state atoms. A tightly focused laser beam leads to local autoionization and the resulting ions are counted electronically. Scanning the beam across the cloud builds up an image of the density distribution of excited atoms, with access to the full counting statistics at each spatial sampling point and an overall detection efficiency of $21%$. We apply this technique to the measurement of a spatially inhomogeneous electric field with a spatial resolution of 50 $\ensuremath{\mu}$m and a sensitivity to electric-field gradients of 0.04 V cm${}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.87.053409

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We report on a scanning microscopy technique for atom-number-resolved imaging of excited-state atoms. A tightly focused laser beam leads to local autoionization and the resulting ions are counted electronically. Scanning the beam across the cloud builds up an image of the density distribution of excited atoms, with access to the full counting statistics at each spatial sampling point and an overall detection efficiency of 2121%21. We apply this technique to the measurement of a spatially inhomogeneous electric field with a spatial resolution of 50 \ensuremathμ\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremathμm and a sensitivity to electric-field gradients of 0.04 V cm\ensuremath−2{}^{\ensuremath{-}2}\ensuremath−2.
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