Cooling of individual neutral atoms in an optical lattice

S. Y. Kim, Michael J. Gibbons, Kevin Fortier +2 more

Individual atoms are deterministically loaded into a high finesse optical cavity using an optical lattice. With cavity-assisted cooling, long interaction times of the atoms with the cavity field are achieved.

Laurent Sanchez-Palencia, G. Grynberg

Прудников Олег Николаевич, R. Ya. Ilenkov, A. V. Taichenachev +2 more

We show the possibility of implementing a deep dissipative optical lattice for neutral atoms with a macroscopic period. The depth of the lattice can reach magnitudes comparable to the depth of the magneto-optical traps (MOT), while the presence of dissipative friction forces allows for trapping and cooling of atoms. The area of localization of trapped atoms reaches sub-millimeter size, and the number of atoms is comparable to the number trapped in MOT. As an example, we study lithium atoms for which the macroscopic period of the lattice $Λ=1.5$ cm. Such deep optical lattices with a macroscopic period open up possibility for developing effective methods for cooling and trapping neutral atoms without use of magnetic field as an alternative to MOT. This is important for developing compact systems based on cold atoms.

Wen-Xiang Guo, Wu-Ming Liu

S. L. Rolston, Georg A. Raithel, G. Birkl +2 more

Прудников Олег Николаевич, R. Ya. Ilenkov, A. V. Taǐchenachev +2 more

It is possible to trap neutral atoms in optical lattices without using magnetic fields, but it is currently difficult to achieve deep trapping potentials in such systems. Here, the authors propose using bichromatic light to induce an optical rectification effect that results in a strong spatial force variance and therefore deep dissipative potentials, demonstrating that such lattices could replace magneto-optical traps in neutral atom cooling and trapping applications.