Effects of classical noises on atom cooling and trapping

Roberto Onofrio, Luca Salasnich

D. A. Ivanov, Sascha Wallentowitz

The application of stochastic cooling to trapped atoms is theoretically studied. We develop a quantum-field approach and investigate the fundamental limits of stochastic cooling, being determined by quantum-noise effects such as atom-number fluctuations and measurement back action. Moreover, using a spatially resolved operation, acting only on a fraction of the atomic cloud, is shown to lead to additional noise effects.

William D. Phillips, Harold J. Metcalf

P. Domokos, Péter Horák, Helmut Ritsch

We present a systematic semiclassical model for the simulation of the dynamics of a single two-level atom strongly coupled to a driven high-finesse optical cavity.From the Fokker-Planck equation of the combined atom-field Wigner function we derive stochastic differential equations for the atomic motion and the cavity field.The corresponding noise sources exhibit strong correlations between the atomic momentum fluctuations and the noise in the phase quadrature of the cavity field.The model provides an effective tool to investigate localization effects as well as cooling and trapping times.In addition, we can continuously study the transition from a few-photon quantum field to the classical limit of a large coherent field amplitude.

P. Domokos, Péter Horák, Ritsch, H

We present a systematic semiclassical model for the simulation of the dynamics of a single two-level atom strongly coupled to a driven high-finesse optical cavity. From the Fokker-Planck equation of the combined atom-field Wigner function we derive stochastic differential equations for the atomic motion and the cavity field. The corresponding noise sources exhibit strong correlations between the atomic momentum fluctuations and the noise in the phase quadrature of the cavity field. The model provides an effective tool to investigate localisation effects as well as cooling and trapping times. In addition, we can continuously study the transition from a few photon quantum field to the classical limit of a large coherent field amplitude.

Carl Wieman, David E. Pritchard, David J. Wineland