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Optics Letters

Resonance-radiation pressure on atoms in symmetrical light fields

Vladimir G. Minogin

Published Apr 1, 1985• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The radiation force acting on a two-level atom in an axisymmetric field of two counterpropagating light beams and a centrosymmetric field of six light beams propagating in the directions +/-x, +/-y, and +/-z has been considered. It is shown that, for radiative cooling of atoms by the light pressure force, the gradient force creates a potential well, the depth of which does not exceed the energy linewidth of resonant atomic transition. It is concluded that stable confinement of cold atoms in symmetrical light fields is impossible.

DOI
10.1364/ol.10.000179

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The radiation force acting on a two-level atom in an axisymmetric field of two counterpropagating light beams and a centrosymmetric field of six light beams propagating in the directions +/-x, +/-y, and +/-z has been considered. It is shown that, for radiative cooling of atoms by the light pressure force, the gradient force creates a potential well, the depth of which does not exceed the energy linewidth of resonant atomic transition. It is concluded that stable confinement of cold atoms in symmetrical light fields is impossible.
The present state of research on the cooling of atomic ensembles by means of laser radiation pressure is discussed. First the basic theory of resonance radiation pressure is reviewed. The effect of recoil on the drift and fluctuations of the momentum of an atom interacting with resonance radiation is examined. There is an analysis of the forces acting on an atom in some simple light fields: a traveling plane wave, a Gaussian beam, and counterpropagating Gaussian beams. The review then focuses on the monochromatization of atoms by resonance radiation pressure and related methods for laser cooling of atoms. The roles played by the radiation pressure force and by momentum diffusion in shaping the narrow velocity distributions of the ensemble of atoms are analyzed. The lowest temperature obtainable in the radiation cooling of atoms is estimated. The basic experimental methods for laser cooling of atomic beams are described. Problems of the three-dimensional cooling of atomic ensembles and problems of localizing cold atoms in light fields, steady-state magnetic fields, and electrostatic fields are discussed. The review concludes with a discussion of some applications of cold atoms in high-precision spectroscopy, frequency standards, and atomic physics.
The use of resonant radiation pressure produced by an axisymmetric light field for collimating atomic beams is considered. As an example the possibility is examined of collimating an atomic beam by the light field created by reflecting a plane wave from the inner surface of a metal cone. It is shown that radiation pressure makes it possible to reduce the transverse velocities of an atomic beam to values of order 100 cm/s, which corresponds to an effective temperature on the order of 0.001 K. A method for obtaining collimated beams of cold atoms that is based on combined slowing-down and collimation of atom beams in response to the pressure of resonant laser radiation is examined. 16 references.
We report the viscous confinement and cooling of neutral sodium atoms in three dimensions via the radiation pressure of counterpropagating laser beams. These atoms have a density of about \ensuremath{\sim}106{10}^{6}106 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}3}$ and a temperature of \ensuremath{\sim}240 \ensuremath{\mu}K corresponding to a rms velocity of \ensuremath{\sim}60 cm/sec. This temperature is approximately the quantum limit for this atomic transition. The decay time for half the atoms to escape a \ensuremath{\sim}0.2cm3{\mathrm{cm}}^{3}cm3 confinement volume is \ensuremath{\sim}0.1 sec.
The polarization and power spectra of radiation of two-level atoms moving in a field of biharmonic and monochromatic counterpropagating waves are computer simulated. It is shown that, as the frequencies of the counterpropagating waves are scanned with respect to the central frequency of the Doppler contour in the intensity distribution of groups of atoms moving at velocities that satisfy the resonance conditions for multiphoton transitions between quasi-energy levels, apart from well-known sub-Doppler resonances, narrow peaks appear. Such resonances should also occur for the stimulated light pressure force.