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Physica Scripta

Quantum Jumps in a Single Ion

Thilo Sauter, R. Blatt, Werner Neuhauser, P. E. Toschek

Published Jan 1, 1988• 25 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We briefly discuss the preparation of a single cold ion in an rf trap, and the concept of "quantum jumps" which requires a single atomic particle for verification. Recent corresponding experiments have demonstrated interruptions of the laser-excited resonance fluorescence, which are the signature of the particles performing quantum jumps to and from a metastable level, under weak excitation of the corresponding transition. The time density of the jumps obeys a Poissonian distribution in agreement with theoretical models. With three trapped ions, the high rate of multiple jumps suggests the presence of collective interaction.

DOI
10.1088/0031-8949/1988/t22/019

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Physical Review Letters•Mar 27, 1995•33 citations
We briefly discuss the preparation of a single cold ion in an rf trap, and the concept of "quantum jumps" which requires a single atomic particle for verification. Recent corresponding experiments have demonstrated interruptions of the laser-excited resonance fluorescence, which are the signature of the particles performing quantum jumps to and from a metastable level, under weak excitation of the corresponding transition. The time density of the jumps obeys a Poissonian distribution in agreement with theoretical models. With three trapped ions, the high rate of multiple jumps suggests the presence of collective interaction.
Ion traps and cw dye lasers allow one to prepare small clouds of ions, or single ions. They can be detected even by absorptive techniques, such that the information is contained in one field mode only, the mode of the irradiating light. The noise can approach the limit. For excitation on weak and narrow lines, random breaks of the scattering on a competing resonance line can reveal the quantized signal absorption. These interruptions are the signature of quantum jumps which characterize the internal dynamics of a single atomic particle under quasi-continuous observation.
One of the experiments made possible by the trapping and cooling of a single atom is to observe the quantum jumps to a metastable state in the atom by monitoring the resonance fluorescence of a strong transition in which at least one of the states is coupled to the metastable state. When the atomic electron moves to the metastable state, the fluorescence from the strongly driven transition disappears. When the electron drops back into the strongly driven transition, the fluorescence abruptly returns. Statistical analysis of these random interruptions to the fluorescence signal implies photon antibunching in the emission of the weak photon.
Several experiments performed at NBS using a single (or few) trapped atomic ions are described. We recently observed the ‘‘quantum jumps’’ in the fluorescence from a single ion of Mg+ due to spontaneous Raman transitions between the energy levels of the ion. In this system, a single laser is used to induce transitions between Zeeman sub‐levels of the ion. As with other realizations of quantum jumps, the dynamics of the population evolution is governed by an effective two‐level rate equation. A novel coherence phenomenon between excited state sub‐levels makes this system ideally suited for quantitatively testing the quantum jump theory. Our data are consistent with theory to within the measurement precision of 2%. Images of two to four ions which have been laser‐cooled until they ‘‘crystallize’’ are displayed and several other recent single ion experiments are mentioned.
When a single trapped ion is laser excited to a metastable state, its ``quantum jump'' inhibits the laser-excited light scattering on a resonance line. This event, and its inverse, modifies the distribution over the oscillator levels (n)(n)(n) of the ion's vibration in the trap. In particular, unsuccessful attempts to deexcite on vibrational sidebands decrease 〈n〉〈n〉〈n〉 to sub-Doppler values and may leave the ion in a ``trapped'' Fock state decoupled from the light.