Photon-number measurements with cold atoms
Dmitri A. Ivanov, T. A. B. Kennedy · Physical Review A · 1993
We consider the motion of a ``slow'' atom through a single-mode quantized radiation field; for example, a high-Q microwave cavity. It is shown that under some circumstances different photon-number states may be resolved by observation of the atomic passage time. Moreover, measurement of one or more passage times may prepare a photon-number state that can be detected in a nondestructive manner.