Optical molasses

0Citations
Citations of this article
337Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.
Get full text

Abstract

Summary form only given, as follows. A three-dimensional configuration of counterpropagating laser beams tuned slightly below an atomic resonance frequency can provide strong 'viscous' damping of the atomic kinetic motion through the action of the photon momentum. This 'optical molasses', first observed in experiments at Bell Labs, not only cools the atoms to microkelvin temperatures, but also provides confinement and concentration as well. Experiments at NIST in Gaithersburg recently showed that the temperatures reached in optical molasses were much lower than believed possible on the basis of simple and widely accepted theoretical models. Groups at Stanford University and at Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris both confirmed these experiments and offered novel theoretical models to explain the low temperatures. These models have been qualitatively verified in further experiments at all three laboratories. Experiments with cesium atoms in optical molasses at the Ecole Normale laboratory have found temperatures as low as 5 μK, which is the lowest kinetic temperature ever measured. It corresponds to an rms velocity of less than 2 cm/s. Such slow atoms may have important applications in a variety of measurements, including atomic frequency standards where atomic motion is the major factor limiting performance.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Phillips, W. D. (1990). Optical molasses. In CPEM Digest (Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements) (p. 4). Publ by IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1364/josab.6.002084

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free