Cooling of multilevel atoms below the one-photon recoil limit by Raman π-pulses

Analysis of optical excitation of a double Λ system with three lower and two excited states (so-called M atom) by the field of four travelling optical waves is carried out. It is shown that excitation of such a system by Raman π pulses can be used for deep cooling of M atoms to a temperature much lower than the temperature controlled by the recoil energy. The application of the proposed scheme considerably simplifies practical implementation of deep Raman cooling, which considerably extends the range of application of this technique.     

Effective sideband cooling in an ytterbium optical lattice clock

Sideband cooling is a key technique for improving the performance of optical atomic clocks by preparing cold atoms and single ions into the ground vibrational state. In this work, we demonstrate detailed experimental research on pulsed Raman sideband cooling in a $^{171}$Yb optical lattice clock. A sequence comprised of interleaved 578 nm cooling pulses resonant on the 1st-order red sideband and 1388 nm repumping pulses is carried out to transfer atoms into the motional ground state. We successfully decrease the axial temperature of atoms in the lattice from 6.5 μK to less than 0.8 μK in the trap depth of 24 μK, corresponding to an average axial motional quantum number $\langle n_z\rangle<0.03$. Rabi oscillation spectroscopy is measured to evaluate the effect of sideband cooling on inhomogeneous excitation. The maximum excitation fraction is increased from 0.8 to 0.86, indicating an enhancement in the quantum coherence of the ensemble. Our work will contribute to improving the instability and uncertainty of Yb lattice clocks.     

Obtaining colder ensembles of free clusters by using evaporation and recoil

We describe a theoretical model which treats the effects of evaporation-induced recoil on the mass and temperature distributions of a collimated beam of small neutral clusters emitted by a hot-nozzle source. The model incorporates two important consequences of in-flight cluster fragmentation processes. One is the well-known statistical evaporation of atoms and dimers accompanied by cluster size redistribution and cooling, and the other is the accompanying mechanical recoil of the fragments. We predict that the filtering effect introduced by cluster recoil can be used to an advantage by separating out the off-axis cluster population. This fraction will have a significantly narrower and colder distribution of internal temperatures than the on-axis ensemble.     

Electronic recoil effects in high-energy photoelectron spectroscopy

It is shown that the recoil energy imparted to the residual ion by the outgoing fast photoelectron leads to noticeable modifications of X-ray excited photoelectron spectra of molecules containing light atoms. The vibrational band envelopes may differ considerably from those predicted by the Franck-Condon principle. Al Kα excited valence electron bands are shown to exhibit, in addition to the translational recoil energy of the molecule, energy shifts of up to several tenth of an eV due to recoil-induced vibrational and rotational excitation. This effect has to be kept in mind when ionization potentials are determined from ESCA spectra. The recoil-induced vibrational and rotational excitation depends on the orbital quantum numbers of the ionized electron. Simple formulae for the shift of the centroid and the broadening of the band due to recoil effects are given for the special case of diatomic molecules.     

Superradiant Rayleigh scattering of high-intensity short light pulses from a Bose-Einstein condensate of dilute atomic gases

Equations of a semiclassical model of superradiant Rayleigh scattering of high-intensity short light pulses from a Bose-Einstein condensate of dilute atomic gases are solved numerically taking into account the excitation of atoms by coherent Rayleigh radiation and their recoil in the backward direction. The evolution of the populations of coherent atomic states with a particular momentum is studied, and the pulse shape and the structure of the spectrum of such scattering are found in relation to the laser beam intensity and the recoil kinetic energy of atoms.     

Doppler cooling and trapping on forbidden transitions

Ultracold atoms at temperatures close to the recoil limit have been achieved by extending Doppler cooling to forbidden transitions. A cloud of (40)Ca atoms has been cooled and trapped to a temperature as low as 6 microK by operating a magnetooptical trap on the spin-forbidden intercombination transition. Quenching the long-lived excited state with an additional laser enhanced the scattering rate by a factor of 15, while a high selectivity in velocity was preserved. With this method, more than 10% of precooled atoms from a standard magnetooptical trap have been transferred to the ultracold trap. Monte Carlo simulations of the cooling process are in good agreement with the experiments.     

On the possibility of “informational” cooling of neutral atoms

A method of lowering the temperature of neutral atoms is considered. The method is based on gaining information on the translational state of individual atoms and the use of this information for the separation of slow and fast atoms. The lowest attainable temperature of an atomic ensemble is appreciably lower than the atomic recoil energy.     

Determination of oscillator strengths from the self-absorption of resonance radiation in rare gases—II. Neon and argon

A previously developed method, based on the self-absorption of resonance radiation, is used to derive oscillator strengths for fourteen resonance transitions of neon and argon. Electron beam excitation of the atoms is used to produce the resonance radiation, which is partly absorbed in the gas between the beam and the spectrometer. A v.u.v. spectrometer is employed to record the radiation intensities as a function of gas pressure. Oscillator strengths are derived from the measurements by using a simple formalism. The influence of recoil effects (as a consequence of the excitation process) on the shape of the spectral emission lines and thereby on the transmission is checked by detailed numerical calculations. Special attention is paid to the determination of the quantities relevant in absorption measurements, i.e. the temperature, the absorption length and the number density of the atoms. The oscillator strengths obtained are compared with results from other experiments of various types (particularly forward inelastic electron scattering, for which on the whole good agreement with the present results exists) and from theoretical calculations.     

激光冷却与捕陷原子的方法——1997年诺贝尔物理奖介绍

介绍了１９９７年诺贝尔物理奖的获奖工作———激光冷却与捕陷原子的方法，其中主要有光学粘团、亚多普勒冷却、亚反冲冷却、激光原子阱等．叙述了它们的物理原理、重要意义及其应用．     

逆运动学弹性共振散射方法在非束缚核结构研究中的应用

简要介绍了近几年发展起来的厚靶逆运动学弹性共振散射方法在非稳定核结构测量中的应用。它是研究非束缚态核结构的实验方法之一。通过测量反冲轻核的激发函数，提取共振态的能量、自旋宇称和衰变宽度等。主要用于研究非稳定核素的结构、核天体物理中相关核的阈能共振态的能级参数测量等。The method of elastic resonance scattering in inverse kinematics, which was progressed in recent years, is briefly introduced. It is a novel experimental technique to perform meaningful experiments under conditions of the very short-lived nuclides and the beam intensities only 1 000 atoms/s. The excitation function of recoil proton has been measured in experiment; the shape of proton energy spectrum can be also used to uniquely deter- mine the energy of resonant states, spin-parity, partial decay width and spectroscopic factors of the states. This method is mainly used in the investigation of unstable nuclei and the level parameters measurement of near threshold resonant state of the nuclear astrophysics related nuclei.     

3D raman sideband cooling of cesium atoms at high density

We laser cool 5x10(7) Cs atoms to a spin-polarized phase space density of 1/30, the highest ever obtained by laser cooling. It is achieved by compression and polarization gradient cooling in a 3D far-off-resonant optical lattice, followed by 3D Raman sideband cooling optimized at a density of 1.5x10(12) atoms/cm(3), and adiabatic release. In the lattice, 23% of the sites are occupied, 95% of the atoms are in the lowest energy magnetic sublevel, and 37% are in the lowest 3D vibrational state.     

拉曼喷泉原子钟

利用托曼光场代替喷泉原子钟的微波腔实现拉曼喷泉原子钟.将分离托曼光场技术与冷原子喷泉技术相结合.避免了存真空腔内放置微波腔,简化了真空系统.同时还保持了很高的准确度.采用半经典理论研究了冷原子喷泉与托曼光场的相互作用过程.得到了冉赛(Ramsey)条纹.比较了托曼喷泉原子钟与热铯束拉曼原子钟,前者有更小的体积和功耗,其精度可能达到或超过商用小铯钟.还比较了拉曼喷泉原子钟与微波喷泉原子钟的差别,分析了光子反冲的影响,提出利用同向传播和相向传播的两台拉曼原子钟测最精细结构常数.     

能量传递制冷机制中激光制冷的最佳泵浦频率和最大制冷效率

在能量传递型激光制冷中,对于非均匀线宽比较窄的情况,引起最大制冷效率的激发光频率不随温度的变化而变化最大制冷效率与温度呈三次暴的关系。对于非均匀线宽比较宽的情况。随着温度的降低,最佳激发光频率与非均匀线形的中心频率差越来越大,并在较低的温度下迅速拉大它们间的距离。由能量传递机制所引起的荧光制冷最大效率也随着温度的降低而越来越低,并在最后趋于零。它们随温度的降低而降低的规律与实验中得到的结论相符合。     

Formation of ultracold polar molecules via Raman excitation

Alkali hydride molecules are very polar, exhibiting large ground-state dipole moments. As ultracold sources of alkali atoms, as well as hydrogen, have been created in the laboratory, we explore theoretically the feasibility of forming such molecules from a mixture of the ultracold atomic gases, employing a two-photon stimulated radiative association process -- Raman excitation. Using accurate molecular potential energy curves and dipole transition moments, we have calculated the rate coefficients for populating all the vibrational levels of the X state of LiH via the excited A state. We have found that significant molecule formation rates can be realized with laser intensities and atomic densities that are attainable experimentally. Because of the large X state dipole moment, rapid cascade occurs down the ladder of vibrational levels to v = 0. The calculated recoil momentum imparted to the molecule is small, and thus negligible trap loss results from the cascade process. This allows for the build-up of a large population of v = 0 trapped molecules.Received: 31 August 2004, Published online: 23 November 2004PACS: 34.50.Rk Laser-modified scattering and reactions - 32.80.Pj Optical cooling of atoms; trapping - 33.20.Vq Vibration-rotation analysis     

The Mössbauer search for Fe in Si

In this review paper, a series of Mössbauer experiments on Fe in Si, spread over almost thirty years, is discussed. In early Mössbauer experiments, the role of precipitate formation during diffusion was insufficiently realized. Later, an apparent inconsistency was observed between ion implantation experiments by recoil implantation of Coulomb excited atoms and by conventional ion implantation. This inconsistency is removed by recent high-resolution Coulomb excitation recoil implantation studies and by ion implantation experiments at the temperature of liquid helium. These studies lead to an unambiguous identification of interstitial Fe and Co in Si. Finally, the present status of the theoretical predictions on the isomer shift of Fe in Si is reviewed.     

Raman transients observed in Doppler free two-photon excitation

Using Doppler-free two-photon excitation, we have observed the transients produced by the sudden introduction or cut-off of the exciting light. The two-photon excitation is of a particular interest because all the atoms are excited with the same energy detuning from the resonance. We have observed the time-variation of the scattered light for several values of the detuning. The corresponding results show the transition from resonance fluorescence to Raman scattering.     

A semiempirical formula describing the recoil yield in silicon

Krypton ions in the energy range 20–300 keV are used to generate recoiling atoms in silicon from thin layers evaporated on its surface. The recoil yields and the impurity distributions in the substrate have been measured as a function of several parameters (energy, thickness of the layer, incident dose). The results are used to propose a new formulation of the recoil yield based on the possibility, for both projectiles and recoiling atoms, to remove impurities previously introduced in silicon.The calculation fits very well the experimental results using displacement energies close to the generally admitted values     

Energy sharing and sputtering in low-energy collision cascades

Using a non-linear transport equation to describe the energy-sharing process in an isotropic collision cascade, we have numerically calculated sputtered particle velocity spectra for several very low energy (<10 eV) primary recoil distributions. Our formulation of the sputtering process is essentially that used in the linear model and our equations yield the familiar linear model results in the appropriate limit. Discrepancies between our calculations and the linear model results in other cases may be understood by considering the effects of the linear model assumptions on the sputtering yield at very low energies. Our calculations are also compared with recent experimental results investigating ion-explosion sputtering. The results of this comparison support the conclusion that in insulators sputtering is initiated by very low energy recoil atoms when the energy of the incident beam is high enough that the stopping power is dominated by the electronic contribution. The calculations also suggest that energy spectra similar to those for evaporation may result from non-equilibrium processes but that the apparent temperatures of evaporation are not related in a simple way to any real temperature within the target.     

Point-defect properties of,and sputtering events in,the {001} surfaces of Ni3Al. II. Sputtering events at and near surfaces

Atomic recoil events at and near {001} surfaces of Ni₃Al due to elastic collisions between electrons and atoms have been simulated by molecular dynamics to obtain the sputtering threshold energy as a function of atomic species, recoil direction and atomic layer of the primary recoil atom. The minimum sputtering energy occurs for adatoms and is 3.5 and 4.5?eV for Al and Ni adatoms on the Ni–Al surface (denoted ‘M’), respectively, and 4.5?eV for both species on the pure Ni surface (denoted ‘N’). For atoms within the surface plane, the minimum sputtering energy is 6.0?eV for Al and Ni atoms in the M plane and for Ni atoms in the N surface. The sputtering threshold energy increases with increasing angle, θ, between the recoil direction and surface normal, and is almost independent of azimuthal angle, ?, if θ<60°; it varies strongly with ? when θ>60°, with a maximum at ??=?45° due to ?{110}? close-packed atomic chains in the surface. The sputtering threshold energy increases significantly for subsurface recoils, except for those that generate efficient energy transfer to a surface atom by a replacement collision sequence. The implications of the results for the prediction of the mass loss due to sputtering during microanalysis in a FEG STEM are discussed.