# Raman sideband cooling of a single atom in an optical dipole trap: Towards theoretical optimum in a three-dimensional regime

## TL;DR

This paper investigates the optimal conditions for Raman sideband cooling of a single atom in a three-dimensional optical trap, aiming to achieve ground state cooling by analyzing parameter requirements and simulating the process.

## Contribution

It identifies critical parameter conditions for effective 3D Raman sideband cooling and provides a detailed numerical simulation for rubidium-85 atoms considering full level structure.

## Key findings

- Optimal cooling beam parameters are identified for 3D confinement.
- Simulation confirms feasibility of ground state cooling under specified conditions.
- Critical geometric and spectral requirements are established for effective cooling.

## Abstract

We clarify the optimal conditions for the protocol of Raman sideband cooling (RSC) of a single atom confined with a tightly focused far-off-resonant optical dipole trap (optical tweezers). The protocol ultimately pursues cooling to a three-dimensional ground state of the confining potential. We show that the RSC protocol has to fulfil a set of critical requirements for the parameters of cooling beams and the excitation geometry to be effective in a most general three-dimensional confguration and for an atom, having initial temperature between the recoil and the Doppler bounds. We perform a numerical simulation of the Raman passage for an example of an $^{85}$Rb atom taking into account the full level structure and all possible transition channels.