Single-photon cooling in a wedge billiard

TL;DR

This paper explores how applying Single-Photon Cooling to atoms in a wedge billiard can improve cooling efficiency, highlighting the role of chaotic dynamics over regular orbits for optimal performance.

Contribution

It demonstrates that chaotic atomic trajectories in a wedge billiard enhance Single-Photon Cooling efficiency, offering a new approach to optimize atomic cooling methods.

Findings

High cooling efficiency achievable with weak dependence on wedge angle

Chaotic dynamics outperform regular orbits in SPC performance

Experimental realization of wedge billiard with atomic trajectories

Abstract

Single-Photon Cooling (SPC), noted for its potential as a versatile method for cooling a variety of atomic species, has recently been demonstrated experimentally. In this paper, we study possible ways to improve the performance of SPC by applying it to atoms trapped inside a wedge billiard. The main feature of wedge billiard for atoms, also experimentally realized recently, is that the nature of atomic trajectories within it changes from stable periodic orbit to random chaotic motion with the change in wedge angle. We find that a high cooling efficiency is possible in this system with a relatively weak dependence on the wedge angle, and that chaotic dynamics, rather than regular orbit, is more desirable for enhancing the performance of SPC.