Harvard University

Title: Cold atoms without lasers and laser cooling without atoms

Abstract:

Cooling atoms by allowing them to thermalize with cryogenic helium is a powerful technique which (unlike laser cooling) can be applied to any atomic species. Cooling a wider range of atoms opens the prospect of exploring new regimes of atomic collisions, quantum fluids, and tests of fundamental symmetries. However most of these goals require the rapid (< 30 ms) removal of the helium in order to that the atoms are both trapped and isolated, and this has proved quite challenging. I will describe recent experiments in which we triple the number of species which can trapped this way. This advance is made possible by a number of technical innovations, including a novel cryogenic valve and magnetic traps which push the limits of superconducting magnet technology.

In the second half of my talk I will describe a series of proposed experiments on radiation pressure in the quantum regime. Like the search for new types of quantum degenerate gases, this proposal highlights the synergy between AMO and condensed matter physics. The force exerted by light on a mirror has long served as a theoretical model for quantum limited detection, quantum nondemolition measurements, and the generation of nonclassical light. I will describe how the advent of high-sensitivity micromechanical structures allows these ideas to be explored in real physical systems. Radiation pressure can both cool a micromechanical mirror and provide unprecedented control over its Hamiltonian, both of which are important tools for the goal of observing quantum dynamics in a mechanical device.