  We report on the spin properties of individual Mn atoms in II-VI
semiconductor strain free quantum dots. Strain free Mn-doped CdTe quantum dots
are formed by width fluctuations in thin quantum wells lattice matched on a
CdTe substrate. These quantum dots permit to optically probe and address any
spin state of a Mn atom in a controlled strain environment. The absence of
strain induced magnetic anisotropy prevents an optical pumping of the Mn spin
at zero magnetic field. Thus, a large photoluminescence is obtained under
resonant optical excitation of the exciton-Mn complex. An efficient optical
pumping of the coupled electronic and nuclear spins of the Mn is restored under
a weak magnetic field. The observed reduction of the resonant photoluminescence
intensity under magnetic field is well described by a model including the
hyperfine coupling and a residual crystal field splitting of the Mn atom.
Finally, we show that the second order correlation function of the resonant
photoluminescence presents a large photon bunching at short delay which is a
probe of the dynamics of coupled electronic and nuclear spins of the Mn atom.
