Abstract

We used resonant radiation pressure from a pair of frequency swept diode lasers to decelerate and cool a thermal beam (200°C oven temperature, 5-mrad divergence) of rubidium to zero velocity. Both isotopes have been stopped. This method is nearly identical to that reported for the successful stopping of cesium.¹ The two lasers were tuned to resonance with the two hyperfine components of the D2 line. This was necessary to counter the effects of optical pumping which would otherwise have prevented the cooling process. The lasers were frequency swept 2–3 times the 400-MHz Doppler width by an injected current ramp of a few tenths of a milliampere added to the normal 80-mA operating currents. During a flight time of 3–4 ms, each atom scattered ~60,000 photons along a 1.3-m path. The earth’s field was not canceled, and there were no applied fields.

© 1987 Optical Society of America