title: Compression of atomic phase space using an asymmetric one-way barrier.
abstract: We show how to construct asymmetric optical barriers for atoms. These barriers can be used to compress phase-space of a sample by creating a confined region in space where atoms can accumulate with heating at the single photon recoil level. We illustrate our method with a simple two-level model and then show how it can be applied to more realistic multilevel atoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Raizen
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Dudarev
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Fisch