LASER Cooling and Trapping

Harsh Purwar (07MS 76) Atomic & Molecular Physics (PH 512) Dept. of Physical Sciences, IISER Kolkata

Outline of the Talk

Introduction Scattering Force Slowing Atomic Beam

Zeeman Effect Chirp Cooling

Optical Molasses Doppler Cooling Limit Magneto Optical Trap (MOT) Other Popular Cooling Techniques

Introduction

LC refers to techniques in which atomic & molecular samples are cooled through their interaction with one or more laser light fields. 1997 NOBEL PRIZE Common Examples:
Doppler cooling Optical Molasses Sisyphus cooling
Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, William Phillips

Mainly used in experiments of quantum physics to achieve temperatures of near absolute zero & observe unique quantum effects, BEC etc. First LC experiments carried out on ions after trapping them using electric fields.

Scattering Force
Light (photons) possess momenta as well as energy. Momentum conservation Force () on an object equals rate at which light delivers momentum which is incident energy over speed of light. Hence, radiation of intensity exerts a force on area given by, = Although small, radiation force has observable effects in astrophysics,

The tails of comets point away from the sun (rather than trailing behind as in shooting stars in the atmosphere). Note: Solar winds are also responsible for this.

Scattering Force

Have a dramatic effect on atoms because the peak absorption cross-section 0 is much greater than the physical size of the atom. A counter propagating laser beam exerts a force on an atom given by, = In terms of photons, we have, = The scattering rate, = 22 where,

22 =

1 2 2 2 2 +2 2+2 4

Hence, =
2 2 2 2 +2 2+2 4

= 0 + = Rabi frequency = 1 , Excited state lifetime

Scattering Force

Now, Rabi frequency can also be written in terms of saturation intensity as, I 22 = 2 Isat = 2 1 + + 4 2 2
As , = 2. For an atom of mass we have, = = = 2 2 Hence, the stopping distance taking acc. = 2, 2 0 0 =

For sodium (23Na) we have,

Scattering Force

Also ~0.03 ms 1 and ~16 ns. So, = = 9 105 ms 2 2

Slowing Atoms
(Zeeman Effect to cancel Doppler Shift)

During constant deceleration the velocity at distance from the starting point is given by, 1 2 = 0 1 0 To compensate the change in Doppler shift as atoms slow down from 0 to the chosen final velocity, frequency shift due to Zeeman effect needs to obey, 0 + = + Hence, required magnetic field profile is, 0 0 = 1 2 = 0 1 + bias 0

Slowing Atomic Beam

Slowing Atoms using Chirp Cooling

Chirp Pulse is one in which frequency sweeps rapidly. No. of photon kicks required to stop the atom, = 0 An atom scatters photons at a maximum rate of, 2 = 1 2 Therefore, photons are scattered in time, 2. For half the max. deceleration time taken is doubled, 4~103 s Typically, freq. of light is swept over a range of more than 1 GHz in a few milliseconds. Nowadays semiconductor diode LASERs are used for this purpose.

Optical Molasses

So, = 0 + 0 0 0 2 = The damping coefficient, 2 2 = 2 = 4 1 + 2 2 2 For damping > 0 = 0 < 0.

Optical Molasses

Incident frequency must be less than the resonance frequency.

Doppler Cooling Limit

Force from a single LASER beam, = + + + Now, = and = 0. During a time , an atom scatters = number of photons. Hence due to spontaneous emission we have, 2 2 = Along a particular direction we have, 2 2 = Similarly,
2 2 =

Doppler Cooling Limit

Hence, 2 1 2 = = 1 + 2 2 where is the recoil energy given by, 1 2 = 2 Assuming spontaneous emission to be isotropic, ( = 1 3). Setting LHS = 0 in above equation we get, 2 2 = 2 From the equipartition theorem we know that, 1 1 2 = 2 2 Hence, 1 + 2 2 = 4 2

Doppler Cooling Limit

1 + 2 2 = 4 2 This has a minimum at, = 0 = 2 And hence we get, = 2

For sodium, = 240 K which corresponds to the most probable velocity of 0.5 ms1 .

Magneto Optical Trap

Advantages of MOT over OM

MOT can be loaded directly from a room temp. vapour because of large capture velocity ~ 70 m/s (for OM ~ 6 m/s) for sodium atoms. Density of cooled atoms in MOT is much larger than that in OM. Cooled atoms can be viewed easily using a CCD camera.

Other Popular Cooling Techniques

Sisyphus Cooling
An example of sub-Doppler cooling

Raman Cooling
Also cools to temp. below the Doppler limit.

Evaporative Cooling
Cools to temp. even below the recoil limit.

And many more

References
Atomic Physics book by Christopher J. Foot Cooling and trapping of atoms by resonance radiation pressure A. Ashkin and J. P. Gordon, Optics Lett. 4, 6 (1979) Radiation-Pressure Cooling of Bound Resonant Absorbers D. J. Wineland, H. E. Drullinger, and F. L. Walls, PRL 40, 25 (1978)

Thank You
Harsh Purwar (07MS 76)
Department of Physical Sciences Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata