Lévy Statistics and Laser Cooling
Laser cooling of atoms provides an ideal case study for the application of Lévy statistics in a privileged situation where the statistical model can be derived from first principles. This book demonstrates how the most efficient laser cooling techniques can be simply and quantitatively understood in terms of non-ergodic random processes dominated by a few rare events. Lévy statistics are now recognised as the proper tool for analysing many different problems for which standard Gaussian statistics are inadequate. Laser cooling provides a simple example of how Lévy statistics can yield analytic predictions that can be compared to other theoretical approaches and experimental results. The authors of this book are world leaders in the fields of laser cooling and light-atom interactions, and are renowned for their clear presentation. This book will therefore hold much interest for graduate students and researchers in the fields of atomic physics, quantum optics, and statistical physics.
- Written by world leaders in the field including the winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics
- The first book to describe the application of Lévy statistics to the problem of laser cooling of atoms
Reviews & endorsements
'… a beautifully concise yet complete introduction to the logic of this incredible technique … students of physics and other scientists interested in laser cooling will find this book hard to beat for insight and conceptual clarity.' Mark Buchanan, New Scientist
'… an excellent and readable account that will be of considerable use not only to people interested in laser cooling, but also to those wishing to see this important set of techniques make an impact in studies of ultracold matter … a significant addition to the literature in both laser cooling and statistical physics. It is rare to have such a lucid and convincing account of a technique that will be new to most scientists. It will be greatly welcomed both by workers in the field of ultracold atom physics and by those who want to see an important theoretical apparatus used in practice.' Keith Burnett, Nature
'… hard to beat for insight and conceptual clarity.' New Scientist
Product details
December 2001Paperback
9780521004220
214 pages
247 × 174 × 15 mm
0.46kg
41 b/w illus. 2 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Subrecoil laser cooling and anomalous random walks
- 3. Trapping and recyling. Statistical properties
- 4. Broad distributions and Lévy statistics: a brief overview
- 5. Proportion of atoms trapped in quasi-dark states
- 6. Momentum distribution
- 7. Physical discussion
- 8. Tests of the statistical approach
- 9. Example of application: optimization of the peak of cooled atoms
- 10. Conclusion
- Appendix A. Correspondence of the parameters of the statistical models with atomic and laser parameters
- Appendix B. The Doppler case
- Appendix C. The special case mu = 1.