Raman sideband cooling experiment of 1995 2026-10-18
In 1995, Christopher Monroe and collaborators cooled one ion in a ring/endcap Paul trap. They used Doppler cooling and optical pumping into . Red-sideband Raman transitions transferred population to , followed by dissipative recycling. Repeating across three directions yielded a reported three-dimensional ground state population of about .[ref]
Resolved-Sideband Raman Cooling of a Bound Atom to the 3D Zero-Point Energy by Christopher Monroe and others. Monroe and others, Resolved-Sideband Raman Cooling of a Bound Atom to the 3D Zero-Point Energy, 1995, pp. 4011–4013, Fig. 1 and Table I
A variable-frequency Raman transition probe, an exchange pulse and a cycling detection beam converted state populations into fluorescence collected through optics onto a position-sensitive photomultiplier. Red/blue asymmetry inferred motional occupation; varying probe duration tested the thermal assumption. Off-resonant processes and independently observed heating limited cooling.[ref]
Resolved-Sideband Raman Cooling of a Bound Atom to the 3D Zero-Point Energy by Christopher Monroe and others. pp. 4012–4014, Fig. 2, Table I and final heating discussion