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Physical Review Letters

Laser Cooling in an Optical Shaker

Ilya Sh. Averbukh, Yehiam Prior

Published Apr 20, 2005• 17 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We propose a novel generic approach to laser cooling based on the nonresonant interactions of atoms and molecules with optical standing waves experiencing sudden phase jumps. The technique, termed "optical shaking," combines the elements of stochastic cooling and Sisyphus cooling. An optical signal that measures the instantaneous force applied by the standing wave on the ensemble of particles is used as feedback to determine the phase jumps. This guarantees a drift towards lower energies and higher phase-space density without the loss of particles typical of evaporative cooling.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.94.153002

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We propose a novel generic approach to laser cooling based on the nonresonant interactions of atoms and molecules with optical standing waves experiencing sudden phase jumps. The technique, termed "optical shaking," combines the elements of stochastic cooling and Sisyphus cooling. An optical signal that measures the instantaneous force applied by the standing wave on the ensemble of particles is used as feedback to determine the phase jumps. This guarantees a drift towards lower energies and higher phase-space density without the loss of particles typical of evaporative cooling.
We explore the prospects of optical shaking, a recently suggested generic approach to laser cooling of neutral atoms and molecules. Optical shaking combines elements of Sisyphus cooling and of stochastic cooling techniques and is based on feedback-controlled interaction of particles with strong nonresonant laser fields. The feedback loop guarantees a monotonous energy decrease without a loss of particles. We discuss two types of feedback algorithms and provide an analytical estimation of their cooling rate. We study the robustness of optical shaking against noise and establish minimal stability requirements for the lasers. The analytical predictions are in a good agreement with the results of detailed numerical simulations.
Some practical improvements are proposed for the ``optical-shaker'' laser-cooling technique [I. S. Averbukh and Y. Prior, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 153002 (2005)]. The improved technique results in an increased cooling rate and decreases the minimum cooling temperature achievable with the optical shaker. The modified shaker requires only one measurement of the force on the atoms before each cooling step, resulting in a simplification of the feedback electronics. The force is inferred from the power variations of the transmitted laser beams and is used to determine the best moment at which the cooling steps are applied. The temperature of the atomic system is automatically monitored, which allows maintaining an optimum cooling rate as the temperature decreases. The improved shaker is simple to build, provides a faster rate of cooling, and can work in the microkelvin regime. Numerical modeling shows a reduction by a factor of 3 in the required number of phase jumps and a lower temperature limit reduced by an order of magnitude compared to the initially proposed shaker. The technique is also extendable to cooling in three dimensions.
We present a new approach to nonresonant laser deceleration and cooling of atoms based on their interaction with a bistable optical cavity. The cooling mechanism presents a photonic version of Sisyphus cooling, in which the conservative motion of atoms is interrupted by sudden transitions between two stable states of the cavity mode. The mechanical energy is extracted due to the hysteretic nature of those transitions. The bistable character of the cavity may be achieved by an external feedback loop, or by means of nonlinear intracavity optical elements. In contrast to the conventional cavity cooling, in which atoms experience a viscoustype force, bistable cavity cooling imitates “dry friction” and stops atoms much faster. Based on this novel approach, we explore the prospects of using optical bistability for efficient radiation pressure cooling of micromechanical devices that are modeled as a Fabry-Perot resonator with one fixed and one oscillating mirror. In all cases, analytical results are presented, supported by realistic numerical examples.