Statistical Mechanics of an Optical Phase Space Compressor
Atomic Physics
2009-11-11 v1
Abstract
We describe the statistical mechanics of a new method to produce very cold atoms or molecules. The method results from trapping a gas in a potential well, and sweeping through the well a semi-permeable barrier, one that allows particles to leave but not to return. If the sweep is sufficiently slow, all the particles trapped in the well compress into an arbitrarily cold gas. We derive analytical expressions for the velocity distribution of particles in the cold gas, and compare these results with numerical simulations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.physics/0502056,
title = {Statistical Mechanics of an Optical Phase Space Compressor},
author = {Artem M. Dudarev and M. Marder and Qian Niu and Nathaniel J. Fisch and Mark G. Raizen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0502056},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
7 pages, 3 figures