Cooling by Maxwell’s demon: Preparation of single-velocity atoms for matter-wave interferometry

Abstract

We present an alternative method for laser cooling of atoms close to the one-dimensional recoil limit. This method is particularly suited for atoms not accessible to conventional sub-Doppler cooling methods. It is based on the repeated selection and accumulation of slow atoms from a precooled atomic cloud and on the repeated rethermalization of the remaining atoms. The prepared ensemble is used to measure atom interferences with increased visibility.