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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)

Laser Manipulation of Atoms

Alain Aspect

Published Jan 1, 1994• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Momentum exchange between atoms and photons allow laser physicists to control atomic motion. It is possible to decelerate and/or focus an atomic beam, to stop it. The average velocity of the almost stopped atoms can be decreased to very small values close to or even below the one photon recoil velocity V R = ħk L /M, corresponding to temperatures in the microkelvin range or below. Laser manipulation of atoms is also essential for the recently developing field of atom optics.

DOI
10.1364/cleo_europe.1994.tutorial.b

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Momentum exchange between atoms and photons allow laser physicists to control atomic motion. It is possible to decelerate and/or focus an atomic beam, to stop it. The average velocity of the almost stopped atoms can be decreased to very small values close to or even below the one photon recoil velocity V R = ħk L /M, corresponding to temperatures in the microkelvin range or below. Laser manipulation of atoms is also essential for the recently developing field of atom optics.
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.
By using quasi-resonant exchanges of energy, linear and angular momentum between atoms and photons, it is possible to polarize atoms, to displace their energy levels and to control their position and their velocity. A few physical mechanisms allowing one to trap atoms and to cool them in the microkelvin, and even in the nanokelvin range, are briefly described and classified with the help of a few simple guidelines. Various possible applications of such ultracold atoms are also reviewed. They take advantage of the long interaction times and long de Broglie wavelengths which are now available with laser cooling and trapping techniques. New quantum situations can also be achieved in these experiments, calling for new theoretical approaches. The last part of this paper is devoted to a brief discussion of these problems.
Atomic-beam sodium atoms were slowed to zero or negative velocities by counterpropagating laser radiation which was frequency chirped with precise electro-optic modulation techniques. The resulting "gas cloud" had a temperature below 50 mK and a density above 106{10}^{6}106 atoms/cm3{\mathrm{cm}}^{3}cm3. We mention future possibilities in atom slowing, deflection, and storage.
We have produced a sample of free sodium atoms at rest in the laboratory by decelerating atoms in an atomic beam using momentum transfer from a counterpropagating, resonant laser beam. These atoms have a density of about 105{10}^{5}105 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ and a velocity spread of about 15 m/s full width at half maximum corresponding to a kinetic temperature less than 100 mK.