COOLING AND TRAPPING OF 3-LEVEL ATOMS IN A BICHROMATIC STANDING-WAVE

We show that a three-level atom in the cascade configuration can be stably trapped and cooled in one dimension by an intense bichromatic standing wave. At the two-photon resonance, rectified dipole forces result in a deep potential well which can be used to localize the atoms in space. In the vicinity of the rectified potential minimum, the spatial dependence of the dressed state energies can lead to a velocity dependence of the force which produces damping of the atomic motion. Consideration of the heating effects of momentum diffusion indicates that cooling and stable trapping at low temperatures is possible in such a bichromatic field.