Transverse Resonance-Radiation Pressure on Atomic Beams and the Influence of fluctuations

Abstract

The development of tunable laser sources has led to a resurgence of interest in various effects caused by resonance-radiation pressure on atoms and ions. Our immediate interest in this subject was initiated by the independent proposals of LETOKHOV [1] and of ASHKIN [2] for using radiation pressure to construct optical traps for neutral atoms. The intent of both proposals is to confine and cool neutral atoms in these optical traps. Recently it was demonstrated that ions stored in electromagnetic traps can be cooled using the radiation pressure of nearly-resonant light [3]. We are currently investigating the transverse dipole force of resonance-radiation pressure; an understanding of this type of force is crucial to the construction of optical traps.KeywordsRadiation PressureAtomic BeamTransverse VelocityBeam ProfileOptical TrapThese 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.