Dissipative light scattering by a trapped atom approaching electromagnetically-induced-transparency conditions

Abstract

We study the time dependence of the spectrum of inelastically scattered radiation from a trapped atom. The atom is illuminated by two lasers tuned to the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) of the free atom. For counterpropagating laser beams, rapid removal of vibrational energy is observed as the atom approaches near-EIT conditions. We show that the imbalance in the sidebands of the scattered radiation spectrum explains quantitatively the cooling of the center-of-mass motion of the trapped atom. We also examine parameters critical for EIT cooling in situations far from the Lamb-Dicke limit.