Trapping And Transferring Single Neutral Atoms Between Two Optical Dipole Traps

The trapping and manipulating of single atoms in red-detuned far off resonance optical dipole traps are important for preparation of single photon source and manipulation of atomic qubits, and provide an effective assistance for realization of quantum computer. This thesis mainly focuses on trapping and manipulating single neutral atoms. We successfully trapped a single atom in red-detuned far off resonance optical dipole traps and transferred it between two traps. Listed as follows:1. Single atoms trapped in red-detuned far-off-resonance optical dipole trapA single rubidium atom was loaded from the magneto-optical trap into a red-detuned optical dipole trap generated by focusing a laser beam into the vacuum chamber. We identified the number of trapped atoms in the dipole trap to be one by collecting and analysing the fluorescence of the atoms, and drew a conclusion that most of the atoms are at the bottom of the dipole trap i.e., at the position of lower potential well by analyzing the Boltzmann energy distribution of the atom.2. Transferring single-atoms between two red-detuned far-off-resonance optical dipole trapsTheoretically, we studied the feasibility of an atom transferred between two traps and qualitatively analyzed the transfer probability. In the experiment, we realized that the atom trapped in the static trap was taken away by the movable trap when the movable trap was crossing the static trap, and the transfer efficiency could reach about94%, meanwhile this transferred atom could be placed at an appointed position in the focal plane. This experiment has potential applications in realizing entanglement and manipulating the external degrees of freedom of two individual neutral atoms in optical dipole trap array.