Abstract

It was recently shown that a single atom can efficiently scatter photons out of a focused coherent light beam [1, 2, 3]. The scattering probability is strongly dependent on a thermal motion of the atom and can be maximized if the atom is well localized at a focus. To achieve that, we implement a Raman sideband cooling technique that is commonly used in ion traps [4]. Our trap, formed by focused Gaussian light beam at 980 nm, has characteristic frequencies of ν_τ = 55 kHz and ν_l = 7 kHz corresponding to transverse and longitudinal confinements. A single ⁸⁷Rb atom is loaded into the trap from an optical molasses. Two Raman beams couple the motional states of |F = 2⟩ and |F = 1⟩ manifolds with a Lamb-Dicke parameter η = 0.084 (Figure 1).

© 2011 IEEE