Abstract
An important aspect of the rapidly growing field of quantum atom optics is exploring the behavior of ultracold atoms at a deeper level than the mean field approximation, where the quantum properties of individual atoms becomes important. Major recent advances have been achieved with the creation and detection of reliable single-atom sources, which is a crucial tool for testing fundamental quantum processes. Here, we create a source comprised of a single ultracold metastable helium atom, which enables novel free-space quantum atom optics experiments to be performed with single massive particles with large de Broglie wavelengths.
- Received 16 April 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.130403
© 2014 American Physical Society
Synopsis
One Very Cold Atom
Published 24 September 2014
Researchers have demonstrated a new source of individual helium atoms at picokelvin temperatures, paving the way for testing the entanglement of particles with mass.
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