Delta Kick Cooling: A New Method for Cooling Atoms

Abstract

We present a new technique for cooling atoms below the photon recoil temperature. Free expansion and a subsequent application of a pulsed potential narrows the momentum distribution provided the atoms were initially well localized. Time scales for this cooling mechanism are shorter than those for other techniques. We give the one dimensional results for quantum and classical distributions of atoms initially held in an optical lattice or a dipole trap. The pulsed lattice potential is the same as that used in the recent atom optics realization of the quantum delta kicked rotor.