Laser Cooling by Sawtooth Wave Adiabatic Passage

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of a laser cooling method using sawtooth wave adiabatic passage, capable of cooling particles with narrow linewidths close to the recoil limit with less spontaneous emission.

Contribution

It introduces a new cooling mechanism based on adiabatic passage that is effective for systems without closed cycling transitions, expanding laser cooling applications.

Findings

Particles can be cooled to near the recoil limit.

Reduced reliance on spontaneous emission compared to Doppler cooling.

Applicable to molecules lacking closed cycling transitions.

Abstract

We provide a theoretical analysis for a recently demonstrated cooling method. Two-level particles undergo successive adiabatic transfers upon interaction with counter-propagating laser beams that are repeatedly swept over the transition frequency. We show that particles with narrow linewidth transitions can be cooled to near the recoil limit. This cooling mechanism has a reduced reliance on spontaneous emission compared to Doppler cooling, and hence shows promise for application to systems lacking closed cycling transitions, such as molecules.