07_enhanced
Enhanced laser cooling and state preparation in an optical lattice with magnetic field
D.L. Haycock, S.E. Hamann, G. Klose, G.Raithel* and P.S. Jessen Optical Sciences Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 *National Institute of Standards and Technology, PHYS A167, Gaithersburg, MD 20899
We demonstrate that weak magnetic fields can significantly enhance laser cooling and sate preparation of Cs atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice. A field parallel to the lattice axis increases the vibrational ground state population of the stretched state |m=F> to 28%. A transverse field ireduces the kinetic temperature. Quantum Monte-Carlo simulations agree with the experiment, and predict 45% ground state population for optimal parallel and transverse fields. Our results show that coherent mixing and local energy relaxation play important roles in laser cooling of large-F atoms.