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Physical Review Letters

Atomic-Beam Deflection by Resonance-Radiation Pressure

Arthur Ashkin

Published Nov 9, 1970• 344 citations
Publisher

Abstract

It is proposed to use the saturated value of the radiation pressure force on neutral atoms to produce a constant central force field to deflect atoms in circular orbits and make a high-resolution velocity analyzer. This is useful for studying the interaction of atoms with high-intensity monochromatic light, and to separate, velocity analyze, or trap neutral atoms of specific isotopic species or hyperfine level.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.25.1321

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It is proposed to use the saturated value of the radiation pressure force on neutral atoms to produce a constant central force field to deflect atoms in circular orbits and make a high-resolution velocity analyzer. This is useful for studying the interaction of atoms with high-intensity monochromatic light, and to separate, velocity analyze, or trap neutral atoms of specific isotopic species or hyperfine level.
A method is proposed for generating a near-monoenergetic atomic beam by deflection resulting from the pressure of light of a resonance frequency. A system in which a beam of atoms passes through N periodically distributed regions of interaction with laser radiation is considered: the system ensures a high selectivity in respect of the atomic velocities. The following applications of deflection of monoenergetic atoms are considered: analysis of the velocity distribution in an atomic beam, determination of the lifetime of excited atomic states, and testing of the theory of photon statistics.
A collection of stationary or nearly stationary atoms would be an ideal sample on which to perform high-resolution spectroscopy. Spectral width, shifts, and distortions that are due to second-order-Doppler and transit-time effects, which now limit high-resolution Doppler-free spectroscopies, would be virtually eliminated. Such low-energy atoms would also be useful for loading into the shallow optical1,2 or magnetic3,4 traps that have been proposed. By irradiating an atomic beam with a near-resonant counter- propagating laser, we have produced such a sample of atoms. The average velocity of the atoms is nearly zero, and the spread in velocities is equivalent to that of a gas at a temperature of about 1 K.