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Updated: Jan 3, 2026

Measurement of Ultrafast Vibrational Coherences in Polyatomic Radical Cations with Strong-Field Adiabatic Ionization
Published on: August 6, 2018
Single-Shot Nondestructive Detection of Rydberg-Atom Ensembles by Transmission Measurement of a Microwave Cavity
S Garcia1, M Stammeier1, J Deiglmayr2
1Department of Physics, ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
Abstract:
We present an experimental realization of single-shot nondestructive detection of ensembles of helium Rydberg atoms. We use the dispersive frequency shift of a superconducting microwave cavity interacting with the ensemble. By probing the transmission of the cavity, we determine the number of Rydberg atoms or the populations of Rydberg quantum states when the ensemble is prepared in a superposition. At the optimal microwave probe power, determined by the critical photon number, we reach single-shot detection of the atom number with 13% relative precision for ensembles of about 500 Rydberg atoms with a measurement backaction characterized by approximately 2% population transfer.
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