Extending a release-and-recapture scheme to single atom optical tweezer for effective temperature evaluation

By recording the fluorescence fraction of the cold atoms remaining in the magneto-optical trap (MOT) as a function of the release time, the release-and-recapture (R&R) method is utilized to evaluate the effective temperature of the cold atomic ensemble. We prepare a single atom in a large-magnetic-gradient MOT and then transfer the trapped single atom into a 1064-nm microscopic optical tweezer. The energy of the single atom trapped in the tweezer is further reduced by polarization gradient cooling (PGC) and the effective temperature is evaluated by extending the R&R technique to a single atom tweezer. The typical effective temperature of a single atom in the tweezer is improved from about 105 μK to about 17 μK by applying the optimum PGC phase.