ATOMIC-BEAM SLOWING AND COOLING - DISCRETE VELOCITY MODEL

A discrete velocity model of the Boltzmann equation is established to investigate the effect of atomic beam slowing and cooling by means of laser light. Due to momentum transfer, caused by absorption and emissi on processes of photons, atoms are slowed. The Doppler effect, however , allows only selected atoms within a certain resonance range to inter act with the laser held. To overcome this problem an external electric field is maintained. Semianalytical results of the velocity distribut ion as a function of the deceleration path of both ground level atoms and excited atoms are presented in detail and studied explicitly for v arious values of the laser intensity. A cooling limit is given and com pared with quantum mechanical results.