Single-Atom Motion in Optical Cavity QED

Recent experiments performed with individual atoms in a microscopic high-finesse optical cavity are reviewed. By monitoring the cavity transmission with a weak probe laser, moving atoms can be observed with high spatial and temporal resolution. This allows one to obtain detailed knowledge about the cavity-mediated light forces, which can be exploited to manipulate the motion of a single atom in real time. For many atoms in the cavity, long-range light forces mediated by the common cavity field lead to collective motional effects.