graduate

Entropy Exchange in Laser Cooling

TYPEColloquium
Speaker:Professor Harlod Metcalf
Date:03.11.2011
Time:16:30
Location:Lidow Rosen Auditorium (323)
Abstract:

Laser cooling must be understood in terms of forces and momentum, potentials and energy, as well a thermodynamics.  However, the properties of light does not fit well with the usual definitions of thermodynamics, so I will present some thoughts about the entropy exchange.  It has long been thought that spontaneous emission is necessary to remove the entropy from a laser cooled vapor, and therefore is necessary for laser cooling.  I will argue that this is not necessarily the case, and present some ideas of how to describe the cooling process in the absence of spontaneous emission.