Number-resolved imaging of excited-state atoms using a scanning autoionization microscope

Lochead, G.; Boddy, D.; Sadler, D.P.; Adams, C.S.; Jones, M.P.A.

Abstract

We report on a scanning microscopy technique for atom-number-resolved imaging of excited-state atoms. A tightly focused laser beam leads to local autoionization and the resulting ions are counted electronically. Scanning the beam across the cloud builds up an image of the density distribution of excited atoms, with access to the full counting statistics at each spatial sampling point and an overall detection efficiency of 21% . We apply this technique to the measurement of a spatially inhomogeneous electric field with a spatial resolution of 50 μ m and a sensitivity to electric-field gradients of 0.04 V cm −2 .

Citation

Lochead, G., Boddy, D., Sadler, D., Adams, C., & Jones, M. (2013). Number-resolved imaging of excited-state atoms using a scanning autoionization microscope. Physical Review A, 87(5), Article 053409. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.87.053409

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: May 21, 2013
• Deposit Date: May 14, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: May 21, 2014
• Journal: Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Print ISSN: 1050-2947
• Electronic ISSN: 1094-1622
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 87
• Issue: 5
• Article Number: 053409
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.87.053409
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1433724