Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “laser cooling”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2

Equilibrium temperature of laser cooled atoms in squeezed vacuum

It is shown that by squeezing the vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field the quantum fluctuations of the optical forces exerted on laser cooled two-level atoms, can be dramatically modified. Under certain conditions, this modification in concert with the enhanced average forces can lead to equilibrium temperatures below those attained under normal vacuum fluctuations.

Shevy, Y.↗

New Submount Requirement of Conductively Cooled Laser Diodes for Lidar Applications

New submount technology is essential for the development of conductively cooled high power diode laser. The simulation and experimental results indicate that thermal conductivity of submount for high power laser-diode must be at least 600 W/m/k or higher for stable operation. We have simulated several theoretical thermal model based on new submount designs and characterized high power diode lasers to determine temperature effects on the performances of laser diodes. The characterization system measures the beam power, output beam profile, temperature distribution, and spectroscopic property of high power diode laser. The characterization system is composed of four main parts: an infrared imaging camera, a CCD camera, a monochromator, and a power meter. Thermal characteristics of two commercial-grade CW 20-W diode laser bars with open heat-sink type were determined with respect to the line shift of emission spectra and beam power stability. The center wavelength of laser emission has a tendency to shift toward longer wavelength as the driving current and heat sink temperature are increased. The increase of heat sink temperature decreases the output power of the laser bar too. Such results lay the guidelines for the design of new submount for high power laser-diodes.

Mo, S. Y.↗

Phase modulation for reduced vibration sensitivity in laser-cooled clocks in space

The standard interrogation technique in atomic beam clocks is square-wave frequency modulation (SWFM), which suffers a first order sensitivity to vibrations as changes in the transit time of the atoms translates to perceived frequency errors. Square-wave phase modulation (SWPM) interrogation eliminates sensitivity to this noise.

frequency standard frequency modulation phase modu↗

Improved Thermoelectrically Cooled Laser-Diode Assemblies

Cooling decreases wavelength and increases efficiency and lifetime. Two improved thermoelectrically cooled laser-diode assemblies incorporate commercial laser diodes providing combination of both high wavelength stability and broad wavelength tuning which are broadly tunable, highly stable devices for injection seeding of pulsed, high-power tunable alexandrite lasers used in lidar remote sensing of water vapor at wavelengths in vicinity of 727 nanometers. Provide temperature control needed to take advantage of tunability of commercial AlGaAs laser diodes in present injection-seeding application.

Glesne, Thomas R.↗

Ion-Atom Cold Collisions and Atomic Clocks

Collisions between ultracold neutral atoms have for some time been the subject of investigation, initially with hydrogen and more recently with laser cooled alkali atoms. Advances in laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms in a Magneto-Optic Trap (MOT) have made cold atoms available as the starting point for many laser cooled atomic physics investigations. The most spectacularly successful of these, the observation of Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) in a dilute ultra-cold spin polarized atomic vapor, has accelerated the study of cold collisions. Experimental and theoretical studies of BEC and the long range interaction between cold alkali atoms is at the boundary of atomic and low temperature physics. Such studies have been difficult and would not have been possible without the development and advancement of laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms. By contrast, ion-atom interactions at low temperature, also very difficult to study prior to modern day laser cooling, have remained largely unexplored. But now, many laboratories worldwide have almost routine access to cold neutral atoms. The combined technologies of ion trapping, together with laser cooling of neutrals has made these studies experimentally feasible and several very important, novel applications might come out of such investigations . This paper is an investigation of ion-atom interactions in the cold and ultra-cold temperature regime. Some of the collisional ion-atom interactions present at room temperature are very much reduced in the low temperature regime. Reaction rates for charge transfer between unlike atoms, A + B(+) approaches A(+) + B, are expected to fall rapidly with temperature, approximately as T(sup 5/2). Thus, cold mixtures of atoms and ions are expected to coexist for very long times, unlike room temperature mixtures of the same ion-atom combination. Thus, it seems feasible to cool ions via collisions with laser cooled atoms. Many of the conventional collisional interactions, exploited as a useful tool at room temperature and higher, are greatly enhanced at low energy. For example, collisional spin transfer from one species of polarized atoms to another has long been a useful method for polarizing a sample of atoms where no other means was available. Because optical pumping cannot be used to polarize the nuclear spin of Xe-129 or He-3 (for use in nmr imaging of the lungs), the nuclear spins are polarized via collisions with an optically pumped Rb vapor in a cell containing both gases. In another case, a spin polarized thermal Cs beam was used to polarize the hyperfine states of trapped He(+)-3 ions in order to measure their hyperfine clock transition frequency. The absence of an x-ray light source to optically pump the ground state of the He(+)-3 ion necessitated this alternative state preparation. Similarly, Cd(+) and Sr(+) ions were spin-oriented via collisions in a cell with optically pumped Rb vapor. Resonant RF spin changing transitions in the ground state of the ions were detected by changes in the Rb resonance light absorption. Because cold collision spin exchange rates scale with temperature as T(sup -1/2) this technique is expected to be a far more powerful tool than the room temperature counterpart. This factor of 100 or more enhancement in spin exchange reaction rates at low temperatures is the basis for a novel trapped ion clock where laser cooled neutrals will cool, state select and monitor the ion clock transition. The advantage over conventional direct laser cooling of trapped ions is that the very expensive and cumbersome UV laser light sources, required to excite the ionic cooling transition, are effectively replaced by simple diode lasers.

Prestage, John D.↗