Logan Hillberry, UT-Austin

"Cooling atoms one dimension at a time: magneto-optical cooling"

Abstract: At temperatures near absolute zero, a macroscopic system of bosonic particles will condense into a single quantum state.  In this phase, the wave aspect of particle-wave duality dominates, and the system exhibits interference and superfluid properties which are of technological and fundamental interest.  These so-called Bose-Einstein condensates were first experimentally realized in 1995, and after 30 years of incremental improvements, typical condensates are produced at a rate of about 10^5 atoms per second. In my qualifying talk, I will discuss progress towards a completely new cooling method called magneto-optical cooling which cools atomic vapors in a cycle one dimension at a time while preserving atom number. I begin by introducing the atomic physics required to understand the various methods of cooling. I will then discuss our groups recent experiment demonstrating a key ingredient of our new method: the one-dimensional magnetic kick. With this background, I describe and contrast the methods of laser cooling, evaporative cooling, and magneto-optical cooling. I close with an outline of our groups current experiment aimed at demonstrating a single cycle of magneto-optical cooling in one dimension.