Two-step Doppler cooling of a three-level ladder system with an intermediate metastable level}

Caroline Champenois (1) , Gaetan Hagel (1) , Martina Knoop (1) , Marie Houssin (1) , Cedric Zumsteg (1) , Fernande Vedel (1) , Michael Drewsen (2)

1 PIIM - Physique des interactions ioniques et moléculaires
2 QUANTOP - Danish National Research Foundation Center for Quantum Optics

Doppler laser cooling of a three-level ladder system using two near-resonant laser fields is analyzed in the case of the intermediate level being metastable while the upper level is short-lived. Analytical as well as numerical results for e.g. obtainable scattering rates and achievable temperatures are presented. When appropriate, comparisons with two-level single photon Doppler laser cooling is made. These results are relevant to recent experimental Doppler laser cooling investigations addressing intercombination lines in alkali-earth metal atoms and quadrupole transitions in alkali-earth metal ions.

Mots clés: Doppler cooling; trapped ions; ladder system; forbidden transition

Domaines: Physique Quantique [quant-ph]

Caroline Champenois, Gaetan Hagel, Martina Knoop, Marie Houssin, Cedric Zumsteg, et al.. Two-step Doppler cooling of a three-level ladder system with an intermediate metastable level}. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1990-2015], 2008, 77, pp.033411. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.77.033411⟩. ⟨hal-00182596v2⟩