Hal Metcalf

SUNY Stony Brook

Entropy Exchange in Laser Cooling

After a brief introduction to the main features of laser cooling and optical molasses, I will discuss energy exchange. This will include internal and kinetic energy exchange in absorption, along with the need for spontaneous emission. Then I will discuss phase space compression in terms of unitarity and the Liouville theorem. Finally, I will show how I calculate entropy, and we'll see if people agree, and how the entropy exchange required for phase space compression in laser cooling can be easily managed without spontaneous emission. Then (I hope) the fun will start.