Detecting magnetically guided atoms with an optical cavity

We show that a low-finesse cavity can be efficient for detecting neutral atoms. The low finesse can be compensated for by decreasing the mode waist of the cavity. We have used a near-concentric resonator with a beam waist of 12 microm and a finesse of only 1100 to detect magnetically guided Rb atoms...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOptics letters Vol. 31; no. 2; p. 268
Main Authors Haase, Albrecht, Hessmo, Björn, Schmiedmayer, Jörg
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 15.01.2006
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Summary:We show that a low-finesse cavity can be efficient for detecting neutral atoms. The low finesse can be compensated for by decreasing the mode waist of the cavity. We have used a near-concentric resonator with a beam waist of 12 microm and a finesse of only 1100 to detect magnetically guided Rb atoms with a detection sensitivity of 0.1 atom in the mode volume. For future experiments on single-atom detection and cavity QED applications, it should be beneficial to use miniaturized optical resonators integrated on atom chips.
ISSN:0146-9592
1539-4794
DOI:10.1364/OL.31.000268