https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050568
Sisyphus cooling of rubidium atoms on the D2 (F = 1 → F' = 1) line: The role of the neighbouring transitions
Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel, Département de Physique de l'École Normale
Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond,
75231 Paris
Cedex 05, France
Received:
26
November
1998
Revised:
20
April
1999
Published online: 15 October 1999
We study one-dimensional Sisyphus cooling on the
transition of 
Rb
atoms in the electric field created by two counter-propagating linearly
polarized
laser beams with an angle of θ between the polarization directions. The
neighbouring F'=0 and F'=2 excited states are found to play an important role
in the cooling mechanism, e.g., by inhibiting a significant population of the
velocity-selective dark state. Our experimental data, such as temperatures and
probe absorption coefficients, agree well with the results of quantum
Monte-Carlo wavefunction simulations.
PACS: 32.80.Pj – Optical cooling of atoms; trapping / 32.80.Lg – Mechanical effects of light on atoms, molecules, and ions / 32.80.Qk – Coherent control of atomic interactions with photons
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 1999
