Laser cooling of atoms

DOPPLER COOLING The first ideas for laser cooling of atoms [6] and ions [7] were published in 1975. The basic idea of what is now called Doppler cooling can be understood by referring to the famous picture. Here we see a typical atomic resonance curve, which we can take to show the rate at which an atom... 

Fig. 9.8 Laser cooling of atoms in a collimated beam with a fixed laser frequency and Zeeman tuning of the atomic absorption frequency [1125]...

C. Salomon, Laser cooling of atoms and ion trapping for frequency standards, in Metrology at the Frontiers of Physics and Technology, ed. by L. Crovini, T.J. Quinn (Noith-HoUand, Amsterdam, 1992), p. 405... 

The increasing research on laser cooling of atoms and molecules and many experiments with Bose-Einstein condensates have brought about some remarkable results... 

The increasing research on laser cooling of atoms and molecules and many experiments with Bose-Einstein condensates have brought about some remarkable results and have considerably increased our knowledge about the interaction of light with matter on a microscopic scale and the interatomic interactions at very low temperatures. Also the realization of coherent matter waves (atom lasers) and investigations of interference effects between matter waves have proved fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics. 

Parkins AS and Zoller P. Laser cooling of atoms with broadband real Gaussian laser fields. Physical Review A 1992 May l 45(9) 6522-6538. 

H. Metcalf, W.D. Phillips Laser cooling of atomic beams Comments. At. Mol. Phys. 16, 79 (1985). 

For performing precision measurements of their properties, ultracold atoms and molecules are one of the central themes of current fundamental research in chemical and optical physics. Laser cooling of atoms allows micro-Kelvin... 

Discuss techniques to achieve laser cooling of atoms. 

Here, for simplicity s sake, the degeneracy of the quantum levels of a two-level system in a real atom is not taken into accoimt. Consideration of the degeneracy of levels due to the angular momentum of an atom in a given quantum state (s,p,d...) and the polarization of radiation (linear, circular, or natural) is essential (see, for example. Foot 2004). This effect is fundamental for the optical orientation of atoms and nuclei (Chapter 4) and the laser cooling of atoms by the polarization gradient method (Chapter 5). 

Fig. 5.9 Experimental velocity distribution of a beam of sodium atoms decelerated by a dye laser in the first experiment on the laser cooling of atoms, and a theoretical prediction of the parameters relevant to the experiment. (From Andreyev et al. 1981, 1982.)...

Wineland, D., and Itano, W. (1979). Laser cooling of atoms. Physical Review A, 20, 1521-1540. 

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