Relaxation of atomic temperature anisotropy in a one-dimensional optical lattice enhanced by dynamic control of the aspect ratio

Abstract

We study the relaxation dynamics of temperature anisotropy between longitudinal and transverse motions of Rb-87 atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice. The temperature imbalance is established by Raman sideband cooling applied along the lattice axis. At low temperature, a large difference between the longitudinal and transverse vibration frequencies limits the relaxation. We transform the trap potential by phase modulating the lattice beam to reduce the anisotropy and thereby enhance cross-dimensional sympathetic cooling. An extension of classical theory, which incorporates the quantization of the atomic motion, explains the experimental results well. We also report that effects of trap anharmonicity and atomic vector polarizability on broadening of the Raman sideband cancel each other at a particular lattice depth, which greatly facilitates sideband cooling.