Absorption imaging has played a key role in the advancement of science from van Leeuwenhoek’sdiscovery of red blood cells to modern observations of dust clouds in stellar nebulas and Bose–Einstein condensates. Here we show the first absorption imaging of a single atom isolated ina vacuum. The optical properties of atoms are thoroughly understood, so a single atom is anideal system for testing the limits of absorption imaging. A single atomic ion was confined inan RF Paul trap and the absorption imaged at near wavelength resolution with a phase Fresnellens. The observed image contrast of 3.1 (3)% is the maximum theoretically allowed for theimaging resolution of our set-up. The absorption of photons by single atoms is of immediateinterest for quantum information processing. our results also point out new opportunities inimaging of light-sensitive samples both in the optical and X-ray regimes.
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