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Applied Sciences

Laser Cooling and Trapping of Rare-Earth-Doped Particles

Galina A. Nemova

Published Apr 8, 2022• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This review focuses on optical refrigeration with the anti-Stokes fluorescence of rare-earth (RE)-doped low-phonon micro- and nanocrystals. Contrary to bulk samples, where the thermal energy is contained in internal vibrational modes (phonons), the thermal energy of nanoparticles is contained in both the translational motion and internal vibrational (phonons) modes of the sample. Much theoretical and experimental research is currently devoted to the laser cooling of nanoparticles. In the majority of the related work, only the translational energy of the particles has been suppressed. In this review, the latest achievements in hybrid optical refrigeration of RE-doped low-phonon micro- and nanoparticles are presented. Hybrid cooling permits the suppression of not only the translational energy of the RE-doped particles, but also their internal vibrational phonon thermal energy. Laser cooling of nanoparticles is not a simple task. Mie resonances can be used to enhance laser cooling with the anti-Stokes fluorescence of nanoparticles made of low-phonon RE-doped solids. Laser-cooled nanoparticles is a promising tool for fundamental quantum-mechanical studies, nonequilibrium thermodynamics, and precision measurements of forces.

DOI
10.3390/app12083777

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This review focuses on optical refrigeration with the anti-Stokes fluorescence of rare-earth (RE)-doped low-phonon micro- and nanocrystals. Contrary to bulk samples, where the thermal energy is contained in internal vibrational modes (phonons), the thermal energy of nanoparticles is contained in both the translational motion and internal vibrational (phonons) modes of the sample. Much theoretical and experimental research is currently devoted to the laser cooling of nanoparticles. In the majority of the related work, only the translational energy of the particles has been suppressed. In this review, the latest achievements in hybrid optical refrigeration of RE-doped low-phonon micro- and nanoparticles are presented. Hybrid cooling permits the suppression of not only the translational energy of the RE-doped particles, but also their internal vibrational phonon thermal energy. Laser cooling of nanoparticles is not a simple task. Mie resonances can be used to enhance laser cooling with the anti-Stokes fluorescence of nanoparticles made of low-phonon RE-doped solids. Laser-cooled nanoparticles is a promising tool for fundamental quantum-mechanical studies, nonequilibrium thermodynamics, and precision measurements of forces.
Laser cooling of solids with anti-Stokes fluorescence is currently attracting widespread attention because of the wide range of its applications, including all-optical cryocooling for airborne and space-based applications, heat suppression in high-power lasers, and cooling of nanoparticles for biological and mesoscopic physics. This laser cooling process has typically very low (only a few%) efficiency and its enhancement is therefore highly desirable. In this work, we propose to leverage Mie resonance to enhance anti-Stokes fluorescence cooling in RE-doped nanoparticles. As an example, we consider an Yb3+:YAG nanosphere pumped at the long wavelength tail of the Yb3+ absorption spectrum, at 1030 nm. We show that if the radius of the nanosphere is adjusted to the pump wavelength in such a manner that the pump excites some of the Mie resonant modes of the sample, the cooling power density generated in the sample is considerably enhanced and the temperature of the sample is consequently appreciably decreased.
Laser cooling of solids, also known as optical refrigeration, is an area of optical science investigating the interaction of light with condensed matter to remove thermal energy of a solid through the interaction of the pump photons and phonons in a solid. Apart from being of fundamental scientific interest, this topic addresses a number of important practical issues such as the development of all solid state optical cryo-coolers, and biological applications. A short history of laser cooling as well as latest achievement of optical refrigeration in rare-earth (RE) doped macro-samples are presented and discussed in the paper. The main technique of laser cooling of RE doped solids based on anti-Stokes fluorescence is presented in this paper. The new approach to optical refrigeration based on the Raman cooling is also considered. It is shown that the future prospects of the research are connected with laser cooling of μm- and nm-sized samples, are in their applications in biophysics in the fundamental studies of low-temperature physics.
This review discusses the progress and ongoing efforts in optical refrigeration. Optical refrigeration is a process in which phonons are removed from a solid by anti-Stokes fluorescence. The review first summarizes the history of optical refrigeration, noting the success in cooling rare-earth-doped solids to cryogenic temperatures. It then examines in detail a four-level model of rare-earth-based optical refrigeration. This model elucidates the essential roles that the various material parameters, such as the spacing of the energy levels and the radiative quantum efficiency, play in the process of optical refrigeration. The review then describes the experimental techniques for cryogenic optical refrigeration of rare-earth-doped solids employing non-resonant and resonant optical cavities. It then examines the work on laser cooling of semiconductors, emphasizing the differences between optical refrigeration of semiconductors and rare-earth-doped solids and the new challenges and advantages of semiconductors. It then describes the significant experimental results including the observed optical refrigeration of CdS nanostructures. The review concludes by discussing the engineering challenges to the development of practical optical refrigerators, and the potential advantages and uses of these refrigerators.
We study hybrid optical cooling of rare-earth-doped mesoscopic crystals via the anti-Stokes fluorescence and collective photon recoil effect inside them. The proposed cooling scheme, composed of a radio-frequency trap and a three-dimensional optical potential, makes it possible to cool doped nanocrystals down to an external temperature of 10−8 K. By achieving the mechanical action values of ∼10ℏ, we come close to the macroscopic quantum states of a solid matter. Such deep translational cooling of nanocrystals paves the way to fundamental studies on the solid state and to applications in low-temperature chemistry and biophysics.
Laser cooling and trapping of Yb3+:YAG nano-crystals has been theoretically investigated. It has been shown that in the system of Yb3+:YAG nano-crystals pumped at 1030 nm in the long wavelength tail of the Yb3+ absorption spectrum both internal and translational laser cooling processes take place. The internal laser cooling process based on anti-Stokes fluorescence serves as a supplementary process to translational cooling of rare-earth (RE) doped nano-crystals. The internal laser cooling process can help to reach lower equilibrium translational temperatures of RE-doped nano-crystals.
Theoretical schemes for laser cooling with nanoparticles have been presented and comprehensively investigated. It is shown that specially designed samples based on nanoparticles can be used to improve the process of laser cooling of solids. One of the proposed schemes is based on lead salt colloidal quantum dots (QDs) doped in a glass host. The second one is based on Tm3+ doped oxy fluoride glass ceramic. It has been shown that lead salt colloidal QDs doped in a glass host can operate as artificial atoms. Very short (microsecond range) radiative lifetimes of the excited 1Sh level of PbSe QDs in comparison with the relatively long (millisecond) radiative lifetime of rare-earth (RE) ions allows the cooling process to be accelerated and to use new hosts with relatively high maximum phonon energy, which have so far been considered not suitable for cooling with RE ions. It has been shown that the second sample, which is based on Tm3+ doped oxy fluoride glass ceramic provides the unique combination of high chemical and mechanical stability of the oxide glass, which is important for a number of applications, and the low phonon energy of the fluoride nano-crystals, which trap a majority of Tm3+ ions participating in the cooling process. This is highly beneficial for laser cooling of solids, since the effective embedding of rare-earth ions in the crystalline phase with low phonon energy provides a high quantum efficiency for the 3F4 → 3H6 transition involved in the cooling cycle in the Tm3+ ions, which is a key parameter for laser cooling of solids.