QUANTUM OPTICS OF A SINGLE TRAPPED ION

A single trapped and cooled ion interacting with light is the realization of a fundamental system of quantum optics. Relevant viewpoints include the light scattering and its relation to the preparation of the ion, the dynamics of the ion's internal motion, and the dynamics of its vibrational motion. As cases in point, recent results are reviewed that illustrate those viewpoints: (i) The preparation of the ion, by spontaneous emission, in a superposition of energy eigenstates of quasi-permanent lifetime. (ii) The dispersive effect of quantum jumps of the ion, to and from a metastable state, that gives rise to internally self-locking the ion in either the light-scattering ''bright'' or the non-scattering ''dark'' state. (iii) The stochastic cooling of the ion by repeated null detection of its resonance scattering. These counter-intuitive phenomena characterize a physical system, where quantum mechanics models ensembles of observations.