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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Intensifying atomic beams by two-step transverse laser cooling

Michael Drewsen, Nikolay V. Vitanov

Published Nov 28, 1993• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A simple, versatile and effective scheme is presented for intensifying atomic beams by transverse laser cooling with two separated, intense standing waves. The first standing wave is negatively detuned while the second is positively detuned with respect to the cooling transition. A realization of the scheme, involving only one laser and simple optics, is proposed. Semiclassical calculations suggest that with a laser power of 0.1-1 W and an interaction length of a few cm, a flux enhancement of approximately 10 2 -10 3 should be obtainable by a two-dimensional set-up. Specific results are presented for the case of metastable argon.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/26/22/016

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A simple, versatile and effective scheme is presented for intensifying atomic beams by transverse laser cooling with two separated, intense standing waves. The first standing wave is negatively detuned while the second is positively detuned with respect to the cooling transition. A realization of the scheme, involving only one laser and simple optics, is proposed. Semiclassical calculations suggest that with a laser power of 0.1-1 W and an interaction length of a few cm, a flux enhancement of approximately 10 2 -10 3 should be obtainable by a two-dimensional set-up. Specific results are presented for the case of metastable argon.
A laser cooling scheme for atoms with an effective three-level \ensuremath{\Lambda} configuration is presented. The cooling force is obtained by using two standing light waves, each interacting only with one of the two atomic transitions and both detuned red with respect to the transition. For a given laser power, the force exceeds the largest force on a two-level atom by a factor of 2 or more and the atomic velocity capture range is at the same time significantly increased. The spatially averaged force as well as the spatially averaged momentum diffusion coefficient, as a function of the atomic velocity, is calculated. The semiclassical steady-state momentum distributions are presented for some specific cases and an experimental realization of the cooling scheme is proposed for the case of metastable helium.
A pulsed metastable argon beam is transversely cooled in one dimension via the closed 4s[11/2${]}_{2}^{\mathit{o}\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}4p[21/24p[21/24p[21/2{]}_{3}$ transition. A standing light wave, orthogonal to the atomic beam and located just at the source, provides the cooling. In all the measurements, the maximum electric field is equivalent to a Rabi frequency of \ensuremath{\sim}220 natural linewidths. The enhancement of the metastable atom flux is measured as a function of the interaction time with a time-of-flight technique. The dependence on the laser detuning is investigated and compared with theory.
A thermal atomic beam of dysprosium atoms is cooled using the $4{f}^{10}6{s}^{2}(J=8)\ensuremath{\rightarrow}4{f}^{10}6s6p(J=9)$ transition at 421421421 nm. The cooling is done via a standing light wave orthogonal to the atomic beam. Efficient transverse cooling to the Doppler limit is demonstrated for all observable isotopes of dysprosium. Branching ratios to metastable states are demonstrated to be <<<$5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$. A scheme for enhancement of the nonzero-nuclear-spin-isotope cooling and a method for direct identification of possible trap states are proposed.
We describe a simple experiment that demonstrates one-dimensional laser cooling in a sealed vapor cell. A velocity selective optical pumping scheme was first used to define a collimated beam of atoms within the cell. A particular velocity group of atoms was labeled by optical pumping with one laser and detected by absorption with a second laser. Transverse cooling of this velocity group, which formed an atomic beam between the two laser beams, was then observed by applying a third laser beam, in analogy with transverse cooling of a conventional atomic beam.
A new method is proposed for laser cooling atoms with Doppler shifts an order of magnitude larger than the homogeneous linewidth of the atomic transition. Two traveling waves cross at a small angle and form standing waves whose wavelength is much longer than that of either traveling wave. This allows one to extend the region in which the laser cooling force is proportional to velocity. The resulting broadband stimulated cooling forces are predicted to stop 0.1% of the flux of a 500-K atomic sodium beam in a distance of 300 μm and a time of a few microseconds. This is more than 100 times faster than current methods. Numerical integration and the method of Gordon and Ashkin have been used to calculate the cooling forces which result when two traveling waves cross at an angle 2a. The stimulated cooling forces are reduced in intensity by sin2a but are proportional to velocity over an interval which is larger by 1/sin a. This allows one to stop a substantial fraction of an atomic beam without chirping the laser or Zeeman tuning the atoms.