Autler-Townes microscopy on a single atom

Abstract

Abstract The detection of a spontaneously emitted photon from a threelevel atom, in which the two upper levels are driven by a classical standing light field, yields information about the centre-of-mass position of the atom relative to the nodes of the driving field. We present a pure state treatment of the system and show that the measurement leads to a reduction of the system's wavefunction, which manifests itself in a localization of the atom.