Doppler cooling to the Quantum limit

Maryvonne Chalony (1) , Anders Kastberg (2) , Bruce Klappauf (3) , David Wilkowski (1, 4, 5)

1 INLN - Institut Non Linéaire de Nice Sophia-Antipolis
2 LPMC - Laboratoire de physique de la matière condensée
3 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Vancouver]
4 CQT - Centre for Quantum Technologies [Singapore]
5 Nanyang Technological University [Singapour]

Doppler cooling on a narrow transition is limited by the noise of single scattering events. It shows novel features, which are in sharp contrast with cooling on a broad transition, such as a non-Gaussian momentum distribution, and divergence of its mean square value close to the resonance. We have observed those features using 1D cooling on an intercombination transition in strontium, and compared the measurements with theoretical predictions and Monte Carlo simulations. We also find that for a very narrow transition, cooling can be improved using a dipole trap, where the clock shift is canceled.

Domains: Atomic Physics [physics.atom-ph]

Maryvonne Chalony, Anders Kastberg, Bruce Klappauf, David Wilkowski. Doppler cooling to the Quantum limit. Physical Review Letters, 2011, 107 (24), pp.243002. ⟨hal-00608303v2⟩