Self-cooling in a system of driven two-level atoms

Yuan Zhan, Zixuan Wang, Richard P. Mirin +2 more

We study resonance fluorescence spectra from a two-level atom strongly driven by both optical and acoustic fields. We observe cancellation of the central peak and extract optimal phonon cooling conditions in the driven atom-phonon system.

Soo Chang, B. M. Garraway, Vladimir G. Minogin

Jinyun Liu, Feng-Dong Jia, Xiao-Kang Li +4 more

We have deduced analytical solutions of an energy level diagram of the doubly driven/dressed atom for a two-level atom exposed to a strong near-resonant bichromatic laser field in a special case, i.e., the bichromatic field with frequencies ω 1 and ω 2 , and Rabi frequencies Ω 1 and Ω 2 , in which the first coupling field of Ω 1 acts on the bare atomic levels, and then the resulting singly dressed states are driven by the second coupling field of Ω 2 , thus resulting in the doubly dressed atom. We have measured the probe absorption spectra of a doubly driven two-level atom. The system consists of 5 2 S 1 / 2 , F = 2 and 5 2 P 3 / 2 , F ′ = 3 states of 87 Rb atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) as well as the cooling/trapping beams and an additional coupling field. As for the spectroscopic properties of the doubly driven two-level atom, theoretical analytical solutions are in general agreement with the experimental spectrum as a whole.

Charles A. Sackett, Randall G. Hulet

We have examined the mechanical effects of light on a three level atom. A single excited state decays to two long-lived ground states. One of the transitions is driven by an intense standing wave, while the other is driven by a traveling wave. We examine this system using analytical and computational techniques, and compare with experimental observations of {sup 7}Li. In the absence of the second ground state and laser field, the atom can be cooled by the familiar two level dipole force. In the three level system, the dipole force cooling mechanism is still present, and can be considerably enhanced. As in the two level system, the cold three level atoms are channeled, or localized in space with respect to the standing wave. In the three level case, the atoms can be channeled in the second ground state, even though that state interacts only with the traveling wave laser, which has no spatial structure. We will discuss applications of the three level cooling force to atomic beam slowing experiments, and the attainment of ultra-cold final temperatures using adiabatic cooling.

Jianying Du, Tong Fu, Jingyi Chen +2 more