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Improved delta-kick cooling with multiple nonideal kicks

Harshil Neeraj1,*, David C. Spierings2, Joseph McGowan IV1, Nicholas Mantella1, and Aephraim M. Steinberg1,†

  • *Contact author: harshil.neeraj@mail.utoronto.ca; harshilneeraj@gmail.com
  • †Contact author: steinberg@physics.utoronto.ca
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Phys. Rev. A 114, 013101 – Published 6 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/sr5h-xhct

Abstract

Delta-kick cooling is a technique employed to achieve low kinetic temperatures by decreasing momentum width at the cost of increased position width. In an ideal implementation, this method uses a harmonic potential to deliver a single near-instantaneous momentum kick. In practice, potentials that are approximately harmonic near their center are commonly used. As a result, the breakdown of the harmonic approximation far from the center limits the cooling performance. Inspired by aberration cancellation in optics, we propose to use compound matter-wave lens systems for δ−kick cooling with Gaussian potentials. By strategically combining attractive and repulsive kicks, we show that it is possible to mimic the effect of a harmonic potential. For a test case with reasonable experimental parameters, our method suggests a reduction in kinetic temperature by a factor of 2.5 using a two-pulse sequence and by a factor of 3.2 using a three-pulse sequence.

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References (23)

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Phys. Rev. A 114, 013101– Published 6 July, 2026
  • Received 26 May 2026
  • Accepted 9 June 2026
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