What is the relation between Ultra-cold atom and optical lattice?

[td21]

Ultra cold atom is achieved by laser cooling.
For optical lattice, it is achieved by the interference of counter-propagating laser beams.

What is the relation between Ultra-cold atom and optical lattice? Why do people load Ultra-cold atom in optical lattice?

Thank you for your answer.

 

[DrClaude]

There are basically two types of optical lattices that are commonly used: dissipative and conservative. In the first case (dissipative), additional cooling takes place via the Sisyphus effect. This allows to reach sub-Doppler temperatures, which can't be reached by conventional laser cooling.

The second type of optical lattice (conservative), where the lasers are far detuned from any atomic transition, are used to create periodic potentials for trapping atoms. They are very common within the Bose-Einstein condensate community.

Don't hesite to ask more questions if you want details. I tried to keep my answer brief.