Abstract

Atom cooling by photon scattering is achieved by enhancing the rate of scattering processes that dissipate motional energy, using the conservation of internal and mechanical energy in atom-photon interactions. Optical resonators can significantly modify the atomic scattering cross section, and can allow one to achieve efficient cooling also for atoms and molecules which may not offer a convenient configuration in free space. Moreover, insight into these processes is relevant for achieving coherent control of atom-photon interactions.

© 2007 IEEE