Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 143601 (2004) [4 pages]Determination of the Number of Atoms Trapped in an Optical CavityReceived 16 March 2004; published 27 September 2004 The number of atoms trapped within the mode of an optical cavity is determined in real time by monitoring the transmission of a weak probe beam. Continuous observation of atom number is accomplished in the strong coupling regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics and functions in concert with a cooling scheme for radial atomic motion. The probe transmission exhibits sudden steps from one plateau to the next in response to the time evolution of the intracavity atom number, from N≥3 to N=2→1→0 atoms, with some trapping events lasting over 1 s. © 2004 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.143601
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.143601
PACS:
42.50.Pq, 03.67.–a, 32.80.Pj
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