Abstract

The spectrum of resonance fluorescence of a single ion in the weak excitation limit is dominated by an elastically scattered component coherent with the incident radiation. We have investigated the coherent fluorescence light of a ²⁴Mg-ion by using a heterodyne detection scheme with a resolution of 0.7 Hz [1]. The ion is stored in a radio-frequency trap formed by two endcaps and laser cooled to the Doppler limit at a temperature of 1 mK, achieving three dimensional localization of the ion on a scale of 1/5 of the transition wavelength.

© 1998 IEEE