Simulations of Sisyphus cooling including multiple excited states

F. Svensson¹, S. Jonsell², and C. M. Dion¹

¹Department of Physics, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
²Department of Physics, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, U.K.

We extend the theory for laser cooling in a near-resonant optical lattice to include multiple excited hyperfine states. Simulations are performed treating the external degrees of freedom of the atom, i.e., position and momentum, classically, while the internal atomic states are treated quantum mechanically, allowing for arbitrary superpositions. Whereas theoretical treatments including only a single excited hyperfine state predict that the temperature should be a function of lattice depth only, except close to resonance, experiments have shown that the minimum temperature achieved depends also on the detuning from resonance of the lattice light. Our results resolve this discrepancy.

Published in The European Physical Journal D 48, 235 (2008).

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