Decoding the dynamics of a single trapped atom from photon correlations

Abstract

Information on the dynamics of a single neutral atom can be decoded from fluctuations in the resonance flu- orescence. We have measured two-time photon correlations of individual cesium atoms stored in a magneto-optical trap. We observe strong correlations at nanosecond scales (Rabi oscillations), at microseconds (intensity and polarization cor- relations), and also at milliseconds (position correlations) re- vealing the dynamical behavior of the atomic excitation, of the atomic orientation, and of its transport in the trap at both the optical wavelength scale and the trap size. In this article we compare our experimental results with a simplified model of an atom moving through an optical lattice. We investigate the influence of light-field topography and of the multilevel character of the atom on the shape and the visibility of the correlations.