High Spatial Resolution Atom Detector with Two-Color Optical Near Fields
Kouki Totsuka, Haruhiko Ito, Tomoto Kawamura +1 more
We describe a slit-type detector for ground-state atoms with nanometer optical near fields. The detector with a slit width of 70 nm and a slit length of 100 µm is fabricated by processing a silicon-on-insulator wafer with photolithography and anisotropic etching. Measurement with a fiber probe of the intensity distribution on the slit reveals that the spatial resolution is 96 nm. Rubidium atoms can be selectively detected by means of two-step photoionization. The detection efficiency is estimated at 25% for Rb atoms with a mean velocity of 10 m/s. The atom detector can be used for atom deflection experiments with a fiber probe.
Japanese Journal of Applied Physics•Mar 15, 2002•19 citations