Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physics Today

Laser Cooling

David J. Wineland, Wayne M. Itano

Published Jun 1, 1987• 99 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In the photograph on the opposite page we see a single mercury ion held nearly at rest in an electromagnetic “trap.” Physicists have seen individual atoms before, in arrays imaged by field ion microscopes and more recently by vacuum tunneling microscopes, but what we see here is different. It graphically demonstrates a physicist's ideal: holding a single isolated atom nearly at rest for careful examination.

DOI
10.1063/1.881076

Related papers

Macroscopic purely optical trap for laser cooling and trapping of mercury atoms

Анна Андреевна Кирпичникова, V. I. Yudin, R. Ya. Ilenkov +2 more

Physical Review A•Sep 14, 2026•0 citations

Semiconductor Traps for Laser-Cooled Atomic Ions and Scalable Quantum

D. Stick, W. K. Hensinger, Steven Olmschenk +1 more

The electromagnetic confinement of atomic ions has provided a useful testbed for many different applications in atomic physics, including laser cooling {1}, mass spectrometry {2}, and precision control of nearly-pure quantum states {3}. Recently, ion traps have been effectively applied to the growing field of quantum computation {4}, where the ability to isolate a single ion from its environment has made it an attractive architecture for a large-scale quantum information processor {5, 6, 7}. While many of the fundamental quantum computing building blocks have been demonstrated with trapped ions {8}, the technology for scaling to large numbers of ion quantum bits (qubits) is just beginning to develop. In this paper, we describe an important milestone on this path with the successful operation of an ion trap fabricated on an integrated gallium arsenide (GaAs) heterostructure, which could in principal scale to host a large array of ions.

•Jun 1, 2006•0 citations

Investigation of cooling a single neutral atom in a microscopic dipole trap

Andrew M. Lance, Charles Tuchendler, Yvan R. P. Sortais +2 more

•Jan 23, 2008•0 citations

Quantum dynamics of single trapped ions

Dietrich G. Leibfried, R. Blatt, Christopher R. Monroe +1 more

Single trapped ions represent elementary quantum systems that are well isolated from the environment. They can be brought nearly to rest by laser cooling, and both their internal electronic states and external motion can be coupled to and manipulated by light fields. This makes them ideally suited for quantum-optical and quantum-dynamical studies under well-controlled conditions. Theoretical and experimental work on these topics is reviewed in the paper, with a focus on ions trapped in radio-frequency (Paul) traps.

Reviews of Modern Physics•Mar 10, 2003•2,736 citations

Localized visible Ba+ mono-ion oscillator

Werner Neuhauser, M. Hohenstatt, P. E. Toschek +1 more

An individual barium ion, continuously observed by laser fluorescence, has been isolated in a Paul rf quadrupole trap at room temperature. By optical sideband cooling its microscopically measured image has been reduced in thickness to \ensuremath{\sim} 2 \ensuremath{\mu}m in the object plane, the diffraction limit. Estimated ion temperatures reached are ${T}_{i}\ensuremath{\simeq}10 \mathrm{to} <36$ mK. With cooling, the ion could be held indefinitely, without cooling \ensuremath{\sim} 30 s. In the future the technique seems capable of attaining kinetic temperatures \ensuremath{\sim} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}8}$ K, much lower than realized so far by other means, with corresponding far-reaching implications.

Physical Review A•Sep 1, 1980•406 citations

Laser cooling and trapping of atomic mercury

Justin R. Paul, Christian R. Lytle, J. R. Jones

APS•Oct 1, 2011•0 citations
In the photograph on the opposite page we see a single mercury ion held nearly at rest in an electromagnetic “trap.” Physicists have seen individual atoms before, in arrays imaged by field ion microscopes and more recently by vacuum tunneling microscopes, but what we see here is different. It graphically demonstrates a physicist's ideal: holding a single isolated atom nearly at rest for careful examination.
The electromagnetic confinement of atomic ions has provided a useful testbed for many different applications in atomic physics, including laser cooling {1}, mass spectrometry {2}, and precision control of nearly-pure quantum states {3}. Recently, ion traps have been effectively applied to the growing field of quantum computation {4}, where the ability to isolate a single ion from its environment has made it an attractive architecture for a large-scale quantum information processor {5, 6, 7}. While many of the fundamental quantum computing building blocks have been demonstrated with trapped ions {8}, the technology for scaling to large numbers of ion quantum bits (qubits) is just beginning to develop. In this paper, we describe an important milestone on this path with the successful operation of an ion trap fabricated on an integrated gallium arsenide (GaAs) heterostructure, which could in principal scale to host a large array of ions.
Single trapped ions represent elementary quantum systems that are well isolated from the environment. They can be brought nearly to rest by laser cooling, and both their internal electronic states and external motion can be coupled to and manipulated by light fields. This makes them ideally suited for quantum-optical and quantum-dynamical studies under well-controlled conditions. Theoretical and experimental work on these topics is reviewed in the paper, with a focus on ions trapped in radio-frequency (Paul) traps.
An individual barium ion, continuously observed by laser fluorescence, has been isolated in a Paul rf quadrupole trap at room temperature. By optical sideband cooling its microscopically measured image has been reduced in thickness to \ensuremath{\sim} 2 \ensuremath{\mu}m in the object plane, the diffraction limit. Estimated ion temperatures reached are ${T}_{i}\ensuremath{\simeq}10 \mathrm{to} <36$ mK. With cooling, the ion could be held indefinitely, without cooling \ensuremath{\sim} 30 s. In the future the technique seems capable of attaining kinetic temperatures \ensuremath{\sim} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}8}$ K, much lower than realized so far by other means, with corresponding far-reaching implications.