Nondestructive detection of atoms bouncing on an evanescent wave
- 1 December 1995
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review A
- Vol. 52 (6) , 4704-4708
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.52.4704
Abstract
A cloud of atoms reflecting from an evanescent-wave mirror produces a phase shift on the beam producing the evanescent wave. This shift can be used to detect the passage of the atoms. We give a physical discussion of this process and estimate the phase shift. The shift can be greatly increased by using a resonant planar waveguide. We also estimate the signal-to-noise ratio and show how to optimize the experimental parameters of such a measurement. Using the waveguide we find a signal-to-noise ratio of order of 300 in a realistic experimental situation.Keywords
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