Manipulating atomic velocities using diode lasers

Abstract

We have used counterpropagating radiation from a diode laser to cool and stop a beam of cesium atoms. The laser frequency was chirped to keep it in resonance with the slowing atoms. The same laser was used to probe the resulting velocity distributions. We have cooled more than 1010 atoms/sec to a temperature of 1 K. This is an extremely simple and inexpensive way to manipulate atomic velocities and has a wide range of possible applications.