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Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 053003 (2005) [4 pages]

Compression of Atomic Phase Space Using an Asymmetric One-Way Barrier

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M. G. Raizen1,2, A. M. Dudarev1,2, Qian Niu1, and N. J. Fisch3
1Department of Physics, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA
2Center for Nonlinear Dynamics, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA
3Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA

Received 1 July 2004; published 9 February 2005

We show how to construct asymmetric optical barriers for atoms. These barriers can be used to compress phase-space of a sample by creating a confined region in space where atoms can accumulate with heating at the single photon recoil level. We illustrate our method with a simple two-level model and then show how it can be applied to more realistic multilevel atoms.


©2005 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.053003
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.053003
PACS: 32.80.Pj, 33.80.Ps

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