Holographic method for site-resolved detection of a 2D array of ultracold atoms

Abstract: We propose a novel approach to site-resolved detection of a 2D gas of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. A near resonant laser beam is coherently scattered by the atomic array and its interference pattern is holographically recorded by superimposing it with a reference laser beam on a CCD chip. Fourier transformation of the recorded intensity pattern reconstructs the atomic distribution in the lattice with single-site resolution. The holographic detection method requires only a few hundred scattered photons per atom in order to achieve a high reconstruction fidelity. Therefore, additional cooling during detection might not be necessary even for light atomic elements such as lithium.