Theory
The best explanation of the phenomenon of optical molasses is based on the principle of polarization gradient cooling. Counterpropagating beams of circularly polarized light cause a standing wave, where the light polarization depends on the spatial location. The AC Stark Shift of atoms in different magnetic sub-levels is also spatially dependent. The basic idea is that atoms moving with a velocity climb a polarization gradient hill, thereby losing their velocity. At the top of the hill, atoms are resonant with the other molasses beams, absorb a photon and decay into a lower energy magnetic sub-level, thereby having shed some of their velocity.
Read more about this topic: Optical Molasses
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