In laser cooling, the Boltzmann constant times the recoil temperature is equal to the recoil energy deposited in a single atom initially at rest by the spontaneous emission of a single photon. It is defined as
where is the wavevector of the light, is the mass of an atom, is Boltzmann's Constant and is Planck's Constant. It is typically on the order of 1 μK, and thus lower than the Doppler temperature. An example of a process where the recoil temperature can be reached is Sisyphus cooling.
Famous quotes containing the words recoil and/or temperature:
“Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another.”
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)
“This pond never breaks up so soon as the others in this neighborhood, on account both of its greater depth and its having no stream passing through it to melt or wear away the ice.... It indicates better than any water hereabouts the absolute progress of the season, being least affected by transient changes of temperature. A severe cold of a few days’ duration in March may very much retard the opening of the former ponds, while the temperature of Walden increases almost uninterruptedly.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)