Detecting the motional state of single atoms in a high-finesse optical cavity by heterodyne spectroscopy

摘要

We observe the quantized motion of single atoms strongly coupled to a high-finesse optical cavity and investigate dynamics of cavity-assisted atom cooling [1]. Single caesium atoms are trapped in a blue-detuned standing-wave intracavity dipole trap, formed by a lock laser which is used to stabilize the cavity resonance frequency. A probe laser is coupled into the cavity mode and its transmission spectrum is monitored by means of photon-counting heterodyne spectroscopy [2].