Laser cooling below the one-photon recoil by velocity-selective coherent population trapping

Journal Article · Mon Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 1988 · Phys. Rev. Lett.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.61.826· OSTI ID:6854657

Aspect, A; Arimondo, E; Kaiser, R; Vansteenkiste, N; Cohen-Tannoudji, C

We present a new laser-cooling scheme based on velocity-selective optical pumping of atoms into a nonabsorbing coherent superposition of states. This method has allowed us to achieve transverse cooling of metastable /sup 4/He atoms to a temperature of 2 ..mu..K, lower than both the usual Doppler cooling limit (23 ..mu..K) and the one-photon recoil (4 ..mu..K). The corresponding de Broglie wavelength (1.4 ..mu..m) is larger than the atomic transition optical wavelength.

• Research Organization: Laboratoire de Spectroscopie Hertzienne de l'Ecole Normale Superieure et College de France, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
• OSTI ID: 6854657
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. Lett.; (United States), Vol. 61:7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOMS
OPTICAL PUMPING
TRAPPING
HELIUM 4
DE BROGLIE WAVELENGTH
DOPPLER EFFECT
LASER RADIATION
METASTABLE STATES
MOMENTUM COOLING
STOCHASTIC COOLING
ULTRALOW TEMPERATURE
BEAM COOLING
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ENERGY LEVELS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EXCITED STATES
HELIUM ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
NUCLEI
PUMPING
RADIATIONS
STABLE ISOTOPES
640302* - Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics- Atomic & Molecular Properties & Theory