Stopping Atoms with Laser Light
Physical Review Letters, 54 (10):
992--995 (Mar 11, 1985)DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.54.992
Abstract
We have produced a sample of free sodium atoms at rest in the laboratory by decelerating atoms in an atomic beam using momentum transfer from a counterpropagating, resonant laser beam. These atoms have a density of about 105 cm-3 and a velocity spread of about 15 m/s full width at half maximum corresponding to a kinetic temperature less than 100 mK.