Related papers: Laser cooling of solids
We have recently demonstrated that optical pumping methods combined with photoassociation of ultra-cold atoms can produce ultra-cold and dense samples of molecules in their absolute rovibronic ground state. More generally, both the external…
Laser cooling has given a boost to atomic physics throughout the last thirty years since it allows one to prepare atoms in motional states which can only be described by quantum mechanics. Most methods, such as Doppler cooling, polarization…
We investigate the resonant cooling phenomena of a driven two-level radiator embedded in a photonic crystal structure. We find that cooling occurs even at laser-atom-frequency resonance. This happens due to the atomic dressed-states…
Sympathetic cooling of trapped ions has become an indispensable tool for quantum information processing and precision spectroscopy. In the simplest situation a single Doppler-cooled ion sympathetically cools another ion which typically has…
We report on a novel mechanism for laser cooling of fluorescent solids based on infrared-to-visible upconversion often found in rare-earth-doped low-phonon materials. This type of optical cooling presents some advantages with regards to…
The development of laser cooling coupled with the ability to trap atoms and ions in electromagnetic fields, has revolutionised atomic and optical physics, leading to the development of atomic clocks, high-resolution spectroscopy and…
We present detailed discussions of cooling and trapping mechanisms for an atom in an optical trap inside an optical cavity, as relevant to recent experiments. The interference pattern of cavity QED and trapping fields in space makes the…
We extend an earlier semiclassical model to describe the dissipative motion of N atoms coupled to M modes inside a coherently driven high-finesse cavity. The description includes momentum diffusion via spontaneous emission and cavity decay.…
We propose a laser cooling technique in which atoms are selectively excited to a dressed metastable state whose light shift and decay rate are spatially correlated for Sisyphus cooling. The case of cooling magnetically trapped…
Sympathetic cooling with ultracold atoms and atomic ions enables ultralow temperatures in systems where direct laser or evaporative cooling is not possible. It has so far been limited to the cooling of other microscopic particles, with…
Laser cooling to sub-Doppler temperatures by optical molasses is thought to be inhibited in atoms with unresolved, near-degenerate hyperfine structure in the excited state. We demonstrate that such cooling is possible in one to three…
We study laser cooling of atomic gases by collisional redistribution, a technique applicable to ultradense atomic ensembles at a pressure of a few hundred bar. Frequent collisions of an optically active atom with a buffer gas shift atoms…
We predict concurrent selforganisation and cooling of multispecies ensembles of laser-illuminated polarisable particles within a high-Q cavity mode. Resonant collective scattering of laser light into the cavity creates optical potentials…
Ultracold molecular gases are promising as an avenue to rich many-body physics, quantum chemistry, quantum information, and precision measurements. This richness, which flows from the complex internal structure of molecules, makes the…
We demonstrate slowing and longitudinal cooling of a supersonic beam of CaF molecules using counter-propagating laser light resonant with a closed rotational and almost closed vibrational transition. A group of molecules are decelerated by…
In a recent paper, we have proposed a novel laser cooling scheme for reducing collisional energy of a pair of atoms by using photoassociative transitions. In that paper, we considered two atoms in free space, that is we have not considered…
We review and study the roles of quantum and classical fluctuations in recent cavity-optomechanical experiments which have now reached the quantum regime (mechanical phonon occupancy < 1) using resolved sideband laser cooling. In…
Direct laser cooling of molecules has made significant progress in recent years. However, the selective cooling and manipulation of molecules based on their isotopic composition, which is ubiquitous in atomic laser cooling, has not yet been…
When laser radiation is skilfully applied, atoms and molecules can be cooled allowing precise measurements and control of quantum systems. This is essential in fundamental studies of physics as well as practical applications such as…
Techniques of Atom trapping and laser cooling have proved to be very important tools in probing many aspects of fundamental physics. In this talk I wish to present ideas on how they may used to settle certain issues in the foundational…