Laser Cooling of a Neon Atomic Beam in Metastable States

Abstract
A neon atomic beam in the 1s5 (J=2) metastable level is cooled by a counterpropagating laser beam using 1s5-2p9 transition. By transferring the 1s5 population to the 1s3 (J=0) metastable level using the optical pumping through 2p2, a cooled 1s3 beam is also generated.