  The quantum Zeno effect (QZE) predicts a slow-down of the time development of
a system under rapidly repeated ideal measurements, and experimentally this was
tested for an ensemble of atoms using short laser pulses for non-selective
state measurements. Here we consider such pulses for selective measurements on
a single system. Each probe pulse will cause a burst of fluorescence or no
fluorescence. If the probe pulses were strictly ideal measurements, the QZE
would predict periods of fluorescence bursts alternating with periods of no
fluorescence (light and dark periods) which would become longer and longer with
increasing frequency of the measurements. The non-ideal character of the
measurements is taken into account by incorporating the laser pulses in the
interaction, and this is used to determine the corrections to the ideal case.
In the limit, when the time between the laser pulses goes to zero, no freezing
occurs but instead we show convergence to the familiar macroscopic light and
dark periods of the continuously driven Dehmelt system. An experiment of this
type should be feasible for a single atom or ion in a trap
