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Abstract:
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This dissertation details the development and implementation of novel experimental techniques for cooling neutral atoms . Based on a method first proposed by Maxwell in a nineteenth century thought experiment , these techniques reduce the entropy of an ensemble by allowing unidirectional transmission through a barrier and thus compressing the ensemble without doing work or increasing its temperature . Because of their general nature , these techniques are much more broadly applicable than traditional laser and evaporative cooling methods , with the potential to cool the vast majority of the periodic table and even molecules .
An implementation that cools in one dimension is demonstrated for an ensemble of magnetically trapped rubidium atoms which are irreversibly transferred to a gravito -optical trap . Analysis of the experimental results confirms that phase -space is completely compressed in one dimension . The results also indicate that the overall cooling performance is limited only by the dynamics of atoms in the magnetic trap and may be improved with a more ergodic system .
Three -dimensional cooling may be accomplished with a modified technique which substitutes a radio -frequency -dressed magnetic trap for the gravito -optical trap . Application of this technique to atomic hydrogen and progress toward building an experimental apparatus are discussed . |