Slowing and cooling an atomic beam using an intense optical standing wave

Abstract

We have demonstrated a new slowing and cooling technique which uses a standing-wave laser field collinear with a thermal Na atomic beam to produce a continuous supply of slow atoms, with most probable velocities ranging from -40 to + 80 m/sec. The velocity spread can be ∼10 m/sec (150 mK), the density ${>10\mathrm{}}^8$, and the peak density in phase space ∼100 times that at the peak of the original Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.