QUANTUM COLLAPSE AND REVIVAL IN THE MOTION OF A SINGLE TRAPPED ION

Within certain limits, the dynamics of a single trapped ion oscillatin g about the node of a standing-wave light field is described by the Ja ynes-Cummings model, which is routinely used for cavity-QED experiment s. We propose a technique to measure quantum collapse and revival in t he population inversion of a single trapped ion, and show that this me thod is uniquely suited for the measurement of final temperatures of t he trapped ion as well as for the analysis of nonclassical states of t he ion motion, such as Fock and squeezed states. The results are discu ssed with particular consideration given to the effects of a finite la ser bandwidth.