Three-dimensional viscous confinement and cooling of atoms by resonance radiation pressure

著者: Steven Chu, L. Hollberg, J. E. Bjorkholm, Alex Cable, A. Ashkin - Physical Review Letters 1985 被引用: 811

We report the viscous confinement and cooling of neutral sodium atoms in three dimensions via the radiation pressure of counterpropagating laser beams. These atoms have a density of about \ensuremath{\sim}${10}^{6}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}3}$ and a temperature of \ensuremath{\sim}240 \ensuremath{\mu}K corresponding to a rms velocity of \ensuremath{\sim}60 cm/sec. This temperature is approximately the quantum limit for this atomic transition. The decay time for half the atoms to escape a \ensuremath{\sim}0.2${\mathrm{cm}}^{3}$ confinement volume is \ensuremath{\sim}0.1 sec.