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Photonics Dictionary

laser cooling

Laser cooling is a technique used to reduce the temperature of a material or a collection of atoms or molecules by using laser light. It is based on the principle of selective absorption and emission of photons by atoms or molecules.

In laser cooling, specially tuned laser beams are directed at the material or atoms. When these atoms absorb photons from the laser light, they gain momentum in the direction of the laser beam due to the momentum carried by the photons. However, according to the laws of thermodynamics, this absorption alone would typically lead to an increase in temperature.

The key to laser cooling lies in using additional mechanisms, such as Doppler cooling or Sisyphus cooling, to counteract this heating effect. These mechanisms involve manipulating the frequency and phase of the laser light in such a way that the atoms lose momentum in other directions, effectively cooling down in the process. 

Laser cooling has been instrumental in achieving extremely low temperatures, close to absolute zero, and has enabled the creation of exotic states of matter, such as Bose-Einstein condensates, which have numerous applications in fundamental physics research, quantum computing, and precision measurement techniques.
 
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