Optomechanical Cavity Cooling of an Atomic Ensemble
Quantum Physics
2012-02-15 v2
Abstract
We demonstrate cavity sideband cooling of a single collective motional mode of an atomic ensemble down to a mean phonon occupation number of 2.0(-0.3/+0.9). Both this minimum occupation number and the observed cooling rate are in good agreement with an optomechanical model. The cooling rate constant is proportional to the total photon scattering rate by the ensemble, demonstrating the cooperative character of the light-emission-induced cooling process. We deduce fundamental limits to cavity-cooling either the collective mode or, sympathetically, the single-atom degrees of freedom.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1104.4623,
title = {Optomechanical Cavity Cooling of an Atomic Ensemble},
author = {Monika H. Schleier-Smith and Ian D. Leroux and Hao Zhang and Mackenzie A. Van Camp and Vladan Vuletic},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1104.4623},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
Paper with supplemental material: 4+6 pages, 4 figures. Minor revisions of text. Supplemental material shortened by removal of supplementary figure