Cavity-induced temperature control of a two-level system

TL;DR

This paper explores how a cavity can be used to control the temperature of a two-level atom, enabling cooling and the creation of nanoscale heat baths through cavity-atom interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a method to vary an atom's temperature via cavity interaction and laser pulses, facilitating nanoscale thermodynamics studies.

Findings

Final atomic temperature depends on interaction time with the cavity

Method allows for cooling of atomic internal degrees of freedom

Potential to create controllable heat baths at the nanoscale

Abstract

We consider a two-level atom interacting with a single mode of the electromagnetic field in a cavity within the Jaynes-Cummings model. Initially, the atom is thermal while the cavity is in a coherent state. The atom interacts with the cavity field for a fixed time. After removing the atom from the cavity and applying a laser pulse the atom will be in a thermal state again. Depending on the interaction time with the cavity field the final temperature can be varied over a large range. We discuss how this method can be used to cool the internal degrees of freedom of atoms and create heat baths suitable for studying thermodynamics at the nanoscale.