Progress Towards a Cavity QED system for Quantum Infomration

Ultracold $^{87}$Rb atoms are delivered into a high-finesse optical micro-cavity using a translating optical lattice trap and detected via the cavity field. Our cavity satisfies the strong-coupling requirements for a single intracavity atom, thus permitting real-time observation of single atoms transported into the cavity. Recent improvements to trap transport, trap lifetime, and active cavity locking lead towards a workable cavity QED experiment for quantum information.