Cooling and trapping of neutral atoms

Abstract

As early as 1917, Einstein had predicted that momentum is transferred in the absorption and emission of light, but it was not until the 1980's that such optical momentum transfer was used to cool and trap neutral atoms. By properly tuning laser light close to atomic transitions, atomic samples can be cooled to extremely low temperatures, the brightness of atomic beams can be enhanced to unprecedented values, and atoms can be manipulated with extraordinary precision. In this review several of the techniques for laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms are described.