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Low Temperature Physics

Low temperature physics without a cryostat: laser cooling and trapping of atoms

N. P. Bigelow

Published Feb 1, 1998• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

In recent years, there has been significant interest in the laser manipulation of neutral atoms, and specifically in the use of light fields to manipulate not only the internal but also the external coordinates of an atom. Among the most dramatic results of this work have been the production of dense ultra-cold samples of trapped neutral atoms. These samples have been used to expand the horizons of fundamental physics and have made possible significant advancements in metrology. Furthermore, the ability to manipulate atomic motion with light has helped to create entirely new fields of research such as atom optics where matter wave analogues of light wave systems are investigated and optical where light is used to create a periodic array of atoms similar to crystals.

DOI
10.1063/1.593551

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In recent years, there has been significant interest in the laser manipulation of neutral atoms, and specifically in the use of light fields to manipulate not only the internal but also the external coordinates of an atom. Among the most dramatic results of this work have been the production of dense ultra-cold samples of trapped neutral atoms. These samples have been used to expand the horizons of fundamental physics and have made possible significant advancements in metrology. Furthermore, the ability to manipulate atomic motion with light has helped to create entirely new fields of research such as atom optics where matter wave analogues of light wave systems are investigated and optical where light is used to create a periodic array of atoms similar to crystals.
Laser cooling and laser manipulation of free neutral atoms have reached a level of sophistication not foreseen just a few years ago. This concerns trapping of neutral atoms at μK temperatures as well as the precise preparation of extreme dense and ultra cold atomic beams. These techniques offer plenty of new experiments answering basic physical questions or allowing totally new levels of precision. The following article will explain, how to prepare such cold beams and it will demonstrate the resulting possibilities for a Ramsey spectrometer at the intercombination line of magnesium. Furthermore first results with this spectrometer set up as magnesium atom interferometer will be presented.
As research in quantum optics has advanced, so too has our ability to precisely tailor the quantum state of a system.Indeed, techniques for quantum state preparation have become sufficiently advanced that an entire subfield has appeared which has been given the name "quantum control".. Parallel to these advances have been other striking developments in quantum optics, in particular, laser cooling and trapping of nentral atoms.In this paper we describe some of the recent advancements in laser cooling, particularly in our laboratories, and point out that laser cooling and trapping is also realizing an important form of quantum control.In laser cooling, instead of exercising control over the internal quantum state of an atom or molecule or a laser field, we are instead controlling a complementary set of degrees of freedom: those of the external coordinates of the atom.
The development of laser cooling has an important impact on many aspects of atomic physics and quantum optics. The efforts to understand the various types of force exerted on atoms by laser light have led to some interesting physics and it is now possible for extremely cold clouds of atoms to be produced, which can be confined in atom traps or formed into very monoenergetic atomic beams. There are many new possibilities to explore in this ultra-cold regime where quantum effects are significant, in addition to the potential for great improvements in precision measurements made by r.f. and laser spectroscopy.
Clouds of cold atoms, collected and refrigerated by laser light, can be cooled to nanoKelvin temperatures. This has created the new field of atom optics where cold atoms are manipulated, much as photons are controlled in traditional optics using mirrors, lenses, and gratings. It is also becoming possible to confine and manipulate atoms in extremely small traps and waveguides, which give access to de Broglie wave physical optics. Atoms flowing in such structures could provide a new technology based on the flow and quantum interactions of neutral atoms. Atom 'chips' could lead to integrated atom interferometers and even possibly to a quantum information processor.