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Physical Review Letters

Short-Distance Atomic Beam Deceleration with a Stimulated Light Force

Johannes Söding, Rudolf Grimm, Yu. B. Ovchinnikov, Philippe Bouyer, Ch Salomon

Published Feb 24, 1997• 109 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have decelerated a cesium atomic beam from thermal velocities down to several tens of m/s within only a 10 cm slowing distance. A bichromatic standing light wave was used to generate a stimulated force exceeding the spontaneous force limit by a factor of $\ensuremath{\sim}10$ and extending over a large, saturation-broadened velocity range. Because of the short slowing distance this method allows production of very intense, continuous beams of slow atoms.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.78.1420

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We have decelerated a cesium atomic beam from thermal velocities down to several tens of m/s within only a 10 cm slowing distance. A bichromatic standing light wave was used to generate a stimulated force exceeding the spontaneous force limit by a factor of \ensuremath∼10\ensuremath{\sim}10\ensuremath∼10 and extending over a large, saturation-broadened velocity range. Because of the short slowing distance this method allows production of very intense, continuous beams of slow atoms.
Heavy atoms play a critical role in scientific research and applications by providing a better understanding of fundamental physical phenomena. The use of a slowed atomic beam to extend the interaction time is expected to enhance measurement sensitivity, resolution, and precision. Here, we theoretically demonstrate a rapid and short-distance deceleration of heavy atoms by using a continuous stimulated force with optical phase compensation and frequency chirping. The scheme effectively overcomes the spatial inhomogeneity of the stimulated force on atoms during deceleration. Our approach employs the numerical solutions of the optical Bloch equations for two-level atoms driven by time-dependent fields, and simulates atom trajectories using a three-dimensional Monte Carlo method. Concerning a buffer-gas-cooled radium atom beam with an initial velocity of 130 m/s, from our simulations it can be decelerated to 5 m/s within 5 cm distance using 40 mW laser power, achieving a deceleration force approximately 35 times stronger than the radiation force and covering an effective velocity range over eight times that of the radiation force. In addition, the deceleration of other heavy atoms, such as francium and thallium, also are applicable. This approach offers an efficient tool for rapidly slowing and cooling complex atoms and molecules, facilitating future precision measurements.
We decelerated an atomic beam of 87{}^{87}87Rb using a stimulated-emission slowing technique that employs a bichromatic standing light wave of high intensity, and increased the atom number in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) of low capture velocity by up to a factor of 14, and the load rate into the MOT by a factor of 20. We performed the slowing over distances under 1.5 cm with 5.2 mW of total power in the bichromatic beams. The average stimulated force was 2.2 times the maximum spontaneous emission force, and could be made even stronger in a smaller apparatus.
The spontaneous decay rate $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ of excited atomic states limits the radiative force on atoms to $\ensuremath{\Elzxh}k\ensuremath{\gamma}/2.$ This bottleneck in the dissipative exchange of momentum between atoms and light can be overcome by coherent control of the momentum exchange interactions. The bichromatic force provides such control by using stimulated instead of spontaneous emission to produce the force, while at the same time exploiting spontaneous emission to enable a dissipative interaction. It is implemented with two counterpropagating light beams, each containing two frequencies, whose phases, amplitudes, and frequency difference are carefully chosen. We have made precise measurements of the extremely large magnitude and velocity range of this bichromatic force, and have shown that its velocity dependence near the edge of its range is suitable for atomic beam slowing and laser cooling. Our measurements have corroborated various models and calculations of this bichromatic force.
We examine two approaches for significantly extending the velocity range of the optical bichromatic force (BCF), to make it useful for laser deceleration of atomic and molecular beams. First, we present experimental results and calculations for BCF deceleration of metastable helium using very large BCF detunings and discuss the limitations of this approach. We consider in detail the constraints, both inherent and practical, that set the usable upper limit of the BCF. We then show that a more promising approach is to utilize a BCF profile with a relatively small velocity range in conjunction with chirped Doppler shifts, to keep the force resonant with the atoms as they are slowed. In an initial experimental test of this chirped BCF method, helium atoms are slowed by $\ensuremath{\sim}$370 m/s using a BCF profile with a velocity width of $\ensuremath{\lesssim}$125 m/s. Straightforward scaling of the present results indicates that a decelerator for He* capable of loading a magneto-optical trap can yield a brightness comparable to a much larger Zeeman slower.
We have demonstrated a new slowing and cooling technique which uses a standing-wave laser field collinear with a thermal Na atomic beam to produce a continuous supply of slow atoms, with most probable velocities ranging from -40 to + 80 m/sec. The velocity spread can be \ensuremath{\sim}10 m/sec (150 mK), the density >108{>10}^{8}>108, and the peak density in phase space \ensuremath{\sim}100 times that at the peak of the original Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.