- #1
Niles
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Homework Statement
Hi
I have a question regarding the force that it used in Optical Molasses. The force is generally given by
[tex]
F = \frac{\hbar k}{2} \frac{s_0}{1 + s_0+ (2\delta/\Gamma)^2}
[/tex]
where s0 is the saturation parameter. The force saturates to
[tex]
F = \frac{\hbar k}{2}
[/tex]
It is normally said that this result is a consequence of the fact that the atom can only absorb and subsequently emit a photon twice during its excited state lifetime. However this latter statement does not make sense to me intuitively. I would say that once the atom has absorbed a photon, then -- on average -- it takes a time [itex]1/\Gamma[/itex] to emit it. So the remaining factor 1/2, where does this come in when looking at the problem like this?Niles.
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