Single Atoms on an Optical Nanofiber

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that individual atoms can be trapped on an optical nanofiber surface without external fields, enabling efficient detection of emitted photons through the fiber's guided mode, with trapping sites created by violet laser irradiation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for trapping single atoms on nanofibers using violet laser radiation without external fields, facilitating photon detection.

Findings

Single atoms can be trapped on nanofiber surfaces without external fields.

Single photons emitted by atoms can be detected via the nanofiber's guided mode.

Trapping sites are created by violet laser irradiation around the nanofiber.

Abstract

We show that single-atoms can be trapped on the surface of a subwavelength-diameter silica-fiber, an optical nanofiber, without any external field, and that single photons spontaneously emitted from the atoms can be readily detected through the single guided-mode of the nanofiber. A key point of the work is our finding that atom trapping sites are created on the nanofiber surface by irradiating the atom cloud around the nanofiber with a violet laser radiation.