Atomic Motion in a Laser Standing Wave

Abstract

Atomic motion in a laser standing wave is a problem which has been extensively studied because of its importance for trapping and cooling. The first suggestion to trap atoms near the nodes or near the antinodes of a non-resonant laser standing wave was made about twenty years ago by LETOKHOV [1]. A few years later, KAZANTSEV predicted the existence of velocity dependent forces acting upon atoms moving in a standing wave and he proposed to use these forces to accelerate atoms [2]. At about the same time, the idea of radiative cooling was put forward by HANSCH and SCHAWLOW for neutral atoms [3] and by WINELAND and DEHMELT for trapped particles [4]. In such a scheme, one supposes that the forces due to the two counterpropagating waves can be added independently, which means that the intensity of the standing wave cannot be too high. During the last ten years, the number of theoretical and experimental papers dealing with atomic motion in a standing wave has increased considerably and it would be impossible to review here all these works.KeywordsStanding WaveAtomic BeamAtomic MotionTrap AtomCesium AtomThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.