Single-Photon Atomic Cooling - Raizen Lab - The University of ...
Single-Photon Atomic Cooling - Raizen Lab - The University of ...
Single-Photon Atomic Cooling - Raizen Lab - The University of ...
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ealizable method <strong>of</strong> cooling. Surprisingly, even hydrogen has evaded laser<br />
cooling, not because it lacks a suitable effective two-level structure, but rather<br />
due to the lack <strong>of</strong> an available laser source at 121 nm.<br />
<strong>The</strong> goal <strong>of</strong> the work detailed in this dissertation was to develop and<br />
demonstrate a more general cooling method that could potentially be applied<br />
to the vast majority <strong>of</strong> atoms in the periodic table.<br />
1.4 Introduction to <strong>Single</strong>-<strong>Photon</strong> <strong>Cooling</strong><br />
<strong>Single</strong>-photon cooling differs fundamentally from established laser cool-<br />
ing techniques because it does not rely on the transfer <strong>of</strong> momentum from<br />
photon to atom to cool. Rather, cooling is achieved through the direct re-<br />
duction <strong>of</strong> the entropy <strong>of</strong> an atomic ensemble. This feature <strong>of</strong> single-photon<br />
cooling sidesteps the major limiting factor <strong>of</strong> established laser cooling tech-<br />
niques allowing it to be potentially applied to a much larger portion <strong>of</strong> the<br />
periodic table, as well as molecules. To justify these claims this section will<br />
discuss, in general terms, the concept <strong>of</strong> single-photon cooling including, for<br />
pedagogical reasons, its origin and development. A more detailed description<br />
<strong>of</strong> the specific implementation <strong>of</strong> this cooling technique to a sample <strong>of</strong> 87 Rb<br />
will be deferred until Ch. 4.<br />
<strong>The</strong> original motivation for the development <strong>of</strong> single-photon cooling<br />
came from the field <strong>of</strong> plasma physics, where it was shown that an efficient<br />
asymmetric barrier for electrons or ions could be produced by subjecting the<br />
magnetically trapped species to a ponderomotive potential in the radio fre-<br />
8