Laser radiation has been used to cool matter ranging from dilute gases to micromechanical oscillators. In Doppler cooling of gases, the translational energy of atoms is lowered through interaction with a laser field1,2. Recently, cooling of a high-density gas through collisional redistribution of radiation has been demonstrated3. In laser cooling of solids, heat is removed through the annihilat...

A novel method of ground-state laser cooling of trapped atoms utilizes the absorption profile of a three(or multi-) level system that is tailored by a quantum interference. With cooling rates comparable to conventional sideband cooling, lower final temperatures may be achieved. The method was experimentally implemented to cool a single Ca+ ion to its vibrational ground state. Since a broad band...

The laser cooling and trapping of ultracold neutral dysprosium has been demonstrated recently using the broad, open, 421-nm cycling transition. Narrow-line magneto-optical trapping of Dy on longer wavelength transitions would enable the preparation of ultracold Dy samples suitable for loading optical dipole traps and subsequent evaporative cooling. We have identified the closed 741-nm cycling t...

The intercombination line of Strontium at 689nm is successfully used in laser cooling to reach the photon recoil limit with Doppler cooling in a magneto-optical traps (MOT). In this paper we present a systematic study of the loading efficiency of such a MOT. Comparing the experimental results to a simple model allows us to discuss the actual limitation of our apparatus. We also study in detail ...

Quantum state preparation of mesoscopic objects is a powerful playground for the elucidation of many physical principles. The field of cavity optomechanics aims to create these states through laser cooling and by minimizing state decoherence. Here we demonstrate simultaneous optical trapping and rotation of a birefringent microparticle in vacuum using a circularly polarized trapping laser beam-...

This brief report is a followup to the recent proposal of using La− as another candidate, in addition to Os−, in laser cooling of anions, which can then be used to cool sympathetically antiprotons. Using the relativistic configuration interaction (RCI) formalism, we calculate the photodetachment cross sections of the upper laser cooling state La− 5d6s6p D1 and Os− 5d6s6p D9/2. Our results show ...

Laser cooling is theoretically investigated in a cascade three-level scheme, where the excited state of a laser-driven transition is coupled by a second laser to a top, more stable level, as for alkaline-earth-metal atoms. The second laser action modifies the atomic scattering cross section and produces temperatures lower than those reached by Doppler cooling on the lower transition. When multi...

Laser irradiation during root canal treatment is efficient but in order to prevent irreversible thermal damage to dentine, cementum and other periapical structures continuous water cooling is required. The aim of this study was to ultrastructurally analyze the surface of intracanal dentine and cementum at the root apex after Er:YAG laser irradiation with and without sterile saline solution irri...

Ground state laser cooling of a single trapped Ca(+)on is achieved with a technique which tailors the absorption profile for the cooling laser by exploiting electromagnetically induced transparency. Using the Zeeman structure of the S(1/2) to P(1/2) dipole transition we achieve up to 90% ground state probability. The new method is robust, easy to implement, and proves particularly useful for co...

(see NEWSBRIEFS on p. 8) R at the Beckman Laser Institute have scored a major success in the area of technology transfer with the licensing and marketing of a patented cooling device used for many of the most common laser-based medical procedures. The Dynamic Cooling DeviceTM (DCD), which provides rapid and spatially selective cooling of the epidermis during laser treatments for a variety of sk...