Sub-atom shot noise Faraday imaging of ultracold atom clouds

verfasst von
M. A. Kristensen, M. Gajdacz, P. L. Pedersen, C. Klempt, J. F. Sherson, J. J. Arlt, A. J. Hilliard
Abstract

We demonstrate that a dispersive imaging technique based on the Faraday effect can measure the atom number in a large, ultracold atom cloud with a precision below the atom shot noise level. The minimally destructive character of the technique allows us to take multiple images of the same cloud, which enables sub-atom shot noise measurement precision of the atom number and allows for an in situ determination of the measurement precision. We have developed a noise model that quantitatively describes the noise contributions due to photon shot noise in the detected light and the noise associated with single atom loss. This model contains no free parameters and is calculated through an analysis of the fluctuations in the acquired images. For clouds containing atoms, we achieve a precision more than a factor of two below the atom shot noise level.

Organisationseinheit(en)
Institut für Quantenoptik
SFB 1227: Designte Quantenzustände der Materie (DQ-mat)
Externe Organisation(en)
Aarhus University
Typ
Artikel
Journal
Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
Band
50
ISSN
0953-4075
Publikationsdatum
17.01.2017
Publikationsstatus
Veröffentlicht
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Atom- und Molekularphysik sowie Optik, Physik der kondensierten Materie
Elektronische Version(en)
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1608.06814 (Zugang: Offen)
https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6455/50/3/034004 (Zugang: Geschlossen)