Abstract

The characteristics of dissipative mechanical forces acting on strongly driven atoms depend on the spontaneous decay rate of the driven transition. In previous studies,¹ it has been assumed that the spontaneous decay rates arise from the coupling of the atoms to the free-space electromagnetic vacuum reservoir. Recently, it has been shown² that new and novel physics can arise when the reservoir that mediates atomic relaxation is colored (frequency dependent) as can be accomplished by a suitably designed cavity or waveguide. We show that a two-level atom moving in an intense rest-frame-resonant standing-wave and decaying via coupling to a colored vacuum reservoir experiences a damping force (which is substantially larger than that predicted in other studies) useful in slowing the atom. This force, unlike traditional cooling forces, is effective over a dramatically wide range of atomic velocities. In fact, the force can be effective even for thermal velocity atoms if the vacuum is strongly colored.

© 1991 Optical Society of America