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arXiv · 1203.3160

Collective state measurement of mesoscopic ensembles with single-atom resolution

Hao Zhang·Robert McConnell·Senka Ćuk·Qian Lin·Monika H. Schleier-Smith·Ian D. Leroux·Vladan Vuletić
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Abstract

For mesoscopic ensembles containing 100 or more atoms we measure the total atom number and the number of atoms in a specific hyperfine state with single-atom resolution. The measurement detects the atom-induced shift of the resonance frequency of an optical cavity containing the ensemble. This work extends the range of cavity-based detection with single-atom resolution by more than an order of magnitude in atom number, and provides the readout capability necessary for Heisenberg-limited interferometry with atomic ensembles.

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Hao Zhang, Robert McConnell, Senka Ćuk, Qian Lin, Monika H. Schleier-Smith, Ian D. Leroux, Vladan Vuletić. 2012-09-28. Collective state measurement of mesoscopic ensembles with single-atom resolution. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.109.133603

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