Laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms

The ability to cool, manipulate, and trap atoms using laser light has allowed a new, rapidly expanding field to emerge. Current research focuses on improving existing cooling techniques, and the development of cold atoms as a source for applications ranging from atomic clocks to studies of quantum degeneracy. This review explains the basic mechanisms used in laser cooling and trapping, and illustrates the development of the field by describing a selection of key experiments. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.