[Zurück]

D. Heine, W. Rohringer, D. Fischer, M. Wilzbach, T. Raub, S. Loziczky, X. Liu, S. Groth, Björn Hessmo, H.-J. Schmiedmayer:
"A single-atom detector integrated on an atom chip: fabrication, characterization and application";
New Journal of Physics, 12 (2010), 095005; S. 1 - 23.

We describe a robust and reliable fluorescence detector for single
atoms that is fully integrated on an atom chip. The detector allows spectrally and
spatially selective detection of atoms, reaching a single-atom detection efficiency
of 66%. It consists of a tapered lensed single-mode fiber for precise delivery of
excitation light and a multi-mode fiber to collect the fluorescence. The fibers are
mounted in lithographically defined holding structures on the atom chip. Neutral
87Rb atoms propagating freely in a magnetic guide are detected and the noise of
their fluorescence emission is analyzed. The variance of the photon distribution
allows us to determine the number of detected photons per atom and from there
the atom detection efficiency. The second-order intensity correlation function of
the fluorescence shows near-perfect photon anti-bunching and signs of damped
Rabi oscillations. With simple improvements, one can increase the detection
efficiency to 95%.

http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/PubDat_192974.pdf