Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 17: Kalte Atome: Fallen und Kühlung

Q 17.7: Talk

Monday, March 12, 2012, 18:00–18:15, V7.02

Cavity cooling below the recoil limit — •Matthias Wolke, Hans Keßler, Jens Klinder, and Andreas Hemmerich — Institut für Laser-Physik, Universität Hamburg, Germany

We study the controlled excitation of a Bose-Einstein-condensate (BEC) into momentum states of ± 2ℏ k and the cooling back to zero momentum. In our system a BEC of ⁸⁷Rb is dispersively coupled to the mode of an ultra-high-finesse standing wave cavity with narrow linewidth (≈ 9 kHz). Exploiting the cavity enhanced scattering we deposit energy (4 E_recoil ≈ h· 14 kHz) into the BEC by illuminating it with a laser blue detuned to the cavity resonance. This can be reversed by switching the detuning to the red flank of the cavity and thereby cool the atoms efficiently down to zero momentum.