Measuring the position of moving atoms with uncertainty-principle-limited precision

Abstract

All optical techniques for position measurement and localization of moving atoms have been developed recently, which achieve suboptical wavelength precision. These techniques, which we refer to as‘atom imaging', are based on new methods of resonance imaging. The attainable accuracy ultimately will scale to the uncertainty principle limit, yielding nanometre spatial resolution for single moving atoms. Diverse applications include fundamental studies of Bose and Fermi statistics and direct-writing neutral-atom lithography.