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Annales de Physique

Optical pumping of stored atomic ions

David J. Wineland, Wayne M. Itano, Jonas Bergquist, J. J. Bollinger, John D. Prestage

Published Jan 1, 1985• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Optical pumping experiments on atomic ions which are stored in electromagnetic « traps » are discussed. Weak relaxation and extremely small energy shifts of the stored ions lead to very high resolution and accuracy in optical pumping-double resonance experiments. In the same spirit of Kastler's proposal for « lumino refrigeration » (1950), the kinetic energy levels of stored ions can be optically pumped. This technique, which has been called laser cooling, significantly reduces Doppler frequency shifts in the spectra.

DOI
10.1051/anphys:01985001006073700

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The interaction of laser radiation with matter is widely used to cool atomic and molecular gases to extremely low temperatures. In connection with this, a considerable number of works on quantum optics have recently been devoted to laser cooling of matter. The principle of Doppler cooling for neutral atoms was proposed by T. Nanch and A. Shavlov, and for trapped ions by D. Wineland and H. Dehmelt. The chapter shows the scheme of the principle of Doppler cooling. The atomic beam is slowed by transmission of a pulse that occurs at the time when the atom absorbs a quantum of light. When laser cooling of atoms in a certain volume, a problem arises with optical pumping. The scheme of cooling an atomic beam by laser radiation in a magnetic field, called the Zeeman slowing, is most often used to obtain slow atomic beams.

CRC Press eBooks•May 15, 2018•0 citations
Optical pumping experiments on atomic ions which are stored in electromagnetic « traps » are discussed. Weak relaxation and extremely small energy shifts of the stored ions lead to very high resolution and accuracy in optical pumping-double resonance experiments. In the same spirit of Kastler's proposal for « lumino refrigeration » (1950), the kinetic energy levels of stored ions can be optically pumped. This technique, which has been called laser cooling, significantly reduces Doppler frequency shifts in the spectra.
When an atom or a molecule interacts with a light beam, the light emitted or absorbed carries valuable information about the atomic or molecular structure. This phenomenon underlies the whole field of spectroscopy. But the interaction of a photon with an atom can be used to manipulate the atom as well as to probe its structure. For example, in an approach called optical pumping, invented by Alfred Kastler, one can use the resonant exchange of angular momentum between atoms and polarized photons to align or orient the spins of atoms or to put them in nonequilibrium situations. In his original 1950 paper Kastler also proposed using optical pumping to cool and to heat the internal degrees of freedom, calling the phenomena the “effet luminofrigorique” and the “effet luminocalorique.” Another famous example of the use of photon-atom interaction to control atoms is laser cooling. This technique relies on resonant exchange of linear momentum between photons and atoms to control their external degrees of freedom and thus to reduce their kinetic energy. Laser cooling was suggested independently by Theodor Hänsch and Arthur Schawlow for neutral atoms and by David Wineland and Hans Dehmelt for trapped ions. In an article written three years ago for PHYSICS TODAY (June 1987, page 34), Wineland and Wayne Itano presented the principle of laser cooling and the potential applications of cold atoms to fields of physics such as ultrahigh resolution spectroscopy, atomic clocks, collisions, surface physics and collective quantum effects. At that time laser cooling had brought temperatures down to a few hundred microkelvin, but unexpected improvements during the last three years have dramatically lowered those temperatures to only a few microkelvin. We now feel we understand the new physical mechanisms responsible for these very low temperatures.
In a paper of 1950, Alfred Kastler proposed cooling of vapours by resonant light via optical pumping of the orientational levels of angular momentum, and successive collisions. Optical pumping of the degrees of freedom of the translational momentum is also feasible. This phenomenon has been demonstrated with ions, even with a single ion, in an electrodynamic or electromagnetic trap. Optical cooling by Raman-like two-photon transitions seems to be capable of generating ultra-low temperature levels.
The limitations to the achievement of low kinetic energies for laser cooling of single ions confined in electromagnetic traps are discussed. Sideband cooling of an ion in an rf (Paul) trap is reexamined including the effects of finite laser bandwidth and the energy of the rf micromotion. The micromotion is the oscillatory motion of the ion at the same frequency as the rf voltage applied to the trap electrodes. Sideband cooling of ions in a Penning trap is examined for the first time. In both cases, cooling to the zero-point energy of the ion in the trap should be possible and a method for verifying this condition is suggested. The implications for high-resolution, high-accuracy spectroscopy are investigated. Under certain conditions, the uncertainty in the second-order Doppler shift may be significantly less than 1 part in 1018{10}^{18}1018. .AE
The interaction of laser radiation with matter is widely used to cool atomic and molecular gases to extremely low temperatures. In connection with this, a considerable number of works on quantum optics have recently been devoted to laser cooling of matter. The principle of Doppler cooling for neutral atoms was proposed by T. Nanch and A. Shavlov, and for trapped ions by D. Wineland and H. Dehmelt. The chapter shows the scheme of the principle of Doppler cooling. The atomic beam is slowed by transmission of a pulse that occurs at the time when the atom absorbs a quantum of light. When laser cooling of atoms in a certain volume, a problem arises with optical pumping. The scheme of cooling an atomic beam by laser radiation in a magnetic field, called the Zeeman slowing, is most often used to obtain slow atomic beams.