25.07.2013 Views

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 ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

<strong>Single</strong>-<strong>Photon</strong> <strong>Atomic</strong> <strong>Cooling</strong><br />

Publication No.<br />

Gabriel Noam Price, Ph.D.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> Texas at Austin, 2009<br />

Supervisor: Mark G. <strong>Raizen</strong><br />

This dissertation details the development and experimental implemen-<br />

tation <strong>of</strong> single-photon atomic cooling. In this scheme atoms are transferred<br />

from a large-volume magnetic trap into a small-volume optical trap via a single<br />

spontaneous Raman transition that is driven near each atom’s classical turning<br />

point. This arrangement removes nearly all <strong>of</strong> an atomic ensemble’s kinetic en-<br />

ergy in one dimension. This method does not rely on a transfer <strong>of</strong> momentum<br />

from photon to atom to cool. Rather, single-photon atomic cooling achieves<br />

a reduction in temperature and an increase in the phase-space density <strong>of</strong> an<br />

atomic ensemble by the direct reduction <strong>of</strong> the system’s entropy. Presented<br />

here is the application <strong>of</strong> this technique to a sample <strong>of</strong> magnetically trapped<br />

87 Rb. Transfer efficiencies between traps <strong>of</strong> up to 2.2% are demonstrated.<br />

It is shown that transfer efficiency can be traded for increased phase-space<br />

compression. By doing so, the phase-space density <strong>of</strong> a magnetically trapped<br />

ensemble is increased by a factor <strong>of</strong> 350 by the single-photon atomic cooling<br />

process.<br />

ix

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!