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Science 12 June 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5933, pp. 1403 - 1406
DOI: 10.1126/science.1171506
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Review

Comprehensive Control of Atomic Motion

Mark G. Raizen

Recent work provides a general two-step solution to trapping and cooling of atoms. The first step is magnetic stopping of paramagnetic atoms with the use of a sequence of pulsed fields. The second step is single-photon cooling, which is based on a one-way barrier. This cooling method is related intimately to the historic problem of "Maxwell’s Demon" and subsequent work by L. Szilard. Here, I discuss the connections between single-photon cooling and information entropy. I also outline future application of these methods to fundamental tests with hydrogen isotopes.

Center for Nonlinear Dynamics and Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA. E-mail: raizen{at}physics.utexas.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)