Eur. Phys. J. D (2017) 71: 229
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2017-80109-7

Regular Article

Atoms in the counter-propagating frequency-modulated waves: splitting, cooling, confinement

¹ Institute of Physics of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Prospect Nauky, 46, 03680 Kyiv, Ukraine
² Kherson National Technical University, Berislavske shosse (Berislavske Highway) , 24 73008 Kherson, Ukraine

^a e-mail: victor.romanenko@gmail.com

Received: 17 February 2017
Received in final form: 5 May 2017
Published online: 5 September 2017

Abstract

We show that the counter-propagating frequency-modulated (FM) waves of the same intensity can split an orthogonal atomic beam into two beams. We calculate the temperature of the atomic ensemble for the case when the atoms are grouped around zero velocity in the direction of the waves propagation. The high-intensity laser radiation with a properly chosen carrier frequency can form a one-dimensional trap for atoms. We carry out the numerical simulation of the atomic motion (two-level model of the atom-field interaction) using parameters appropriate for sodium atoms and show that sub-Doppler cooling can be reached. We suppose that such a cooling is partly based on the cooling without spontaneous emission in polychromatic waves [H. Metcalf, Phys. Rev. A 77, 061401 (2008)]. We calculate the state of the atom in the field by the Monte Carlo wave-function method and describe its mechanical motion by the classical mechanics.