Abstract

We demonstrated trapping single neutral Rb atoms in micro traps of an optical ring lattice formed by superposing the ±l components of the Laguerre-Gaussian mode, and generated by reflecting a single laser beam from a computer controlled spatial light modulator. A single atom in one trap or two atoms with one each in two traps were identified by observing the fluorescence. The trap array loaded with single atoms was rotated by dynamically displaying the hologram animation movie on the modulator. The modulation period in the fluorescence indicates the rotation of one or two single atoms in the lattice.

© 2009 Optical Society of America

» View Full Text: Acrobat PDF (464 KB)

History
Original Manuscript: September 9, 2009
Manuscript Accepted: October 23, 2009
Revised Manuscript: October 22, 2009
Published: November 3, 2009

References

1. R. Grimm, M. Weidemuller, Y. B. Ovchinnikov, "Optical dipole traps for neutral atoms," Adv. At., Mol., Opt. Phys. 42, 95-170 (2000).
2. D. Frese, B. Uberholz, S. Kuhr, W. Alt, D. Schrader, V. Gomer, and D. Meschede, "Single atoms in an optical dipole trap: Towards a deterministic source of cold atoms," Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 3777-3740 (2000). [CrossRef]
3. N. Schlosser, G. Reymond, I. Protsenko, P. Grangier, "Sub-poissonian loading of single atoms in a microscopic dipole trap," Nature (London) 411, 1024-1027 (2001). [CrossRef]
4. S. Bergamini, B. Darquie, M. Jones, L. Jacubowiez, A. Browaeys, P. Grangier, "Holographic generation of microtrap arrays for single atoms by use of a programmable phase modulator," J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 21, 1889-1894 (2004).
5. R. Dumke, M. Volk, T. Muther, F. B. J. Buchkremer, G. Birkl, W. Ertmer, "Micro-optical Realization of Arrays of Selectively Addressable Dipole Traps: A Scalable Configuration for Quantum Computation with Atomic Qubits," Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 097903 (2002). [CrossRef]
6. D. Schrader, I. Dotsenko, M. Khudaverdyan, Y. Miroshnychenko, A. Rauschenbeutel, and D. Meschede, "Neutral Atom Quantum Register," Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 150501 (2004). [CrossRef]
7. Y. Miroshnychenko, W. Alt, I. Dotsenko, L. Forster, M. Khudaverdyan, D. Meschede, D. Schrader, A. Rauschenbeutel, "Quantum engineering: An atom-sorting machine," Nature (London) 442, 151 (2006). [CrossRef]
8. S. Kuhr, W. Alt, D. Schrader, I. Dotsenko, Y. Miroshnychenko, W. Rosenfeld, M. Khudaverdyan, V. Gomer, A. Rauschenbeutel, D. Meschede, "Coherence properties and quantum state transportation in an optical conveyor belt," Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 213002 (2003). [CrossRef]
9. O. Mandel, M. Greiner, A. Widera, T. Rom, T. W. Hansch, I. Bloch, "Coherent transport of neutral atoms in spin-dependent optical lattice potentials," Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 010407 (2003). [CrossRef]
10. J. Beugnon, C. Tuchendler, H. Marion, A. Gaetan, Y. Miroshnychenko, Y. R. P. Sortais, A. M. Lance, M. P.A. Jones, G. Messin, A. Browaeys, P. Grangier, "Two-dimensional transport and transfer of a single atomic qubit in optical tweezers," Nat. Phys. 3, 696-699 (2007). [CrossRef]
11. S. Franke-Arnold, J. Leach, M. J. Padgett, V. E. Lembessis, D. Ellinas, A. J. Wright, J. M. Girkin, P. Ohberg, A. S. Arnold, "Optical ferris wheel for ultracold atoms," Opt. Express 15, 8619-8625 (2007). [CrossRef]
12. L. Allen, M. W. Beijersbergen, R. J. C. Spreeuw, and J. P. Woerdman, "Orbital angular momentum of light and the transformation of Laguerre-Gaussian laser modes," Phys. Rev. A 45, 8185 - 8189 (1992). [CrossRef]
13. T. Kuga, Y. Torii, N. Shiokawa, T. Hirano, Y. Shimizu, H. Sasada, "Novel Optical Trap of Atoms with a Doughnut Beam," Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 4713 - 4716 (1997). [CrossRef]
14. M. Stutz, S. Groblacher, T. Jennewein, A. Zeilinger, "How to create and detect N-dimensional entangled photons with an active phase hologram," Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 261114 (2007). [CrossRef]
15. J. Wang, L. Zhou, R. B. Li, M. Liu, M. S. Zhan, "Cold atom interferometers and their applications in precision measurements," Front. Phys. China 4, 179-189 (2009). [CrossRef]
16. K. Li, L. Deng, E. W. Hagley, M. G. Payne, and M. S. Zhan, "Matter-wave self-imaging by atomic center-of-mass motion induced interference," Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 250401 (2008). [CrossRef]
17. N. Schlosser, G. Reymond, and P. Grangier, "Collisional Blockade in Microscopic Optical Dipole Traps," Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 023005 (2002). [CrossRef]
18. H. Hanbury-Brown and R. Q. Twiss, "Correlation between photons in two coherent beams of light," Nature (London) 177, 27-29 (1956). [CrossRef]
19. M. Weber, J. Volz, K. Saucke, C. Kurtsiefer, H. Weinfurter,"Analysis of a single-atom dipole trap," Phys. Rev. A 73, 043406 (2006). [CrossRef]
20. M. P.A. Jones, J. Beugnon, A. Gaetan, J. Zhang, G. Messin, A. Browaeys, and P. Grangier, "Fast quantum state control of a single trapped neutral atom," Phys. Rev. A 75, 040301(R) (2007).
21. A. Browaeys, H. Haffner, C. McKenzie, S. L. Rolston, K. Helmerson, W. D. Phillips, "Transport of atoms in a quantum conveyor belt," Phys. Rev. A 72, 053605 (2006). [CrossRef]

Author Affiliations

Xiaodong He, Peng Xu, Jin Wang

Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, CAS

Mingsheng Zhan

Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Cited By

OSA is able to provide readers links to articles that cite this paper by participating in CrossRef's Cited-By Linking service. In addition to listing OSA journal articles that cite this paper, citing articles from other participating publishers will also be listed.

Advanced Search

Recent ToC Categories (Beta)

• Oct 08 2009 : See the latest ISP articles in the Applied Optics feature on Digital Holography in 3-D Imaging.
• Sep 25 2009 : Energy Express: Optics Express announces a special bi-monthly supplement dedicated to rapid developments in optics for sustainable energy.
• Sep 21 2009 : The 2009 Education and Training in Optics and Photonics papers are now available.

More News

• Invisibility Visualized
  Nov 12, 2009 - Scientists and curiosity seekers who want to know what a partially or... more
• Diamonds are a Laser's Best Friend
  Sep 18, 2009 - Tomorrow’s lasers may come with a bit of bling, thanks to a new... more
• Open Wide and Say ‘Zap’
  Aug 19, 2009 - A group of researchers in Australia and Taiwan has developed a new... more