Quantum Catcher: Trapping and cooling particles using a moving atom diode and an atomic mirror

We propose a theoretical scheme for atomic cooling, i.e. the compression of both velocity and position distribution of particles in motion. This is achieved by collisions of the particles with a combination of a moving atomic mirror and a moving atom diode. An atom diode is a unidirectional barrier, i.e. an optical device through which an atom can pass in one direction only. We show that the efficiency of the scheme depends on the trajectory of the diode and the mirror. We examine both the classical and quantum mechanical descriptions of the scheme, along with the numerical simulations to show the efficiency in each case.