Nondestructive fluorescent state detection of single neutral atom qubits

Phys Rev Lett. 2011 Apr 1;106(13):133002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.133002. Epub 2011 Mar 31.

Abstract

We demonstrate nondestructive (lossless) fluorescent state detection of individual neutral atom qubits trapped in an optical lattice. The hyperfine state of the atom is measured with a 95% accuracy and an atom loss rate of 1%. Individual atoms are initialized and detected over 100 times before being lost from the trap, representing a 100-fold improvement in data collection rates over previous experiments. Microwave Rabi oscillations are observed with repeated measurements of one and the same single atom.