arXiv:quant-ph/0106053 · Physical Review A

Atomic-position localization via dual measurement

Hyunchul Nha, Jai-Hyung Lee, Joon-Sung Chang, Kyungwon An

Published Feb 27, 2002• 46 citations

Abstract

We study localization of atomic position when a three-level atom interacts with a quantized standing-wave field in the Ramsey interferometer setup. Both the field quadrature amplitude and the atomic internal state are measured to obtain the atomic-position information. It is found that this dual-measurement scheme produces an interference pattern superimposed on a diffractionlike pattern in the atomic-position distribution, where the former pattern originates from the state-selective measurement and the latter from the field measurement. The present scheme results in a better resolution in the position localization than the field-alone measurement schemes. We also discuss the measurement-correlated mechanical action of the standing-wave field on the atom in the light of Popper's test.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.65.033827

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