Optical refrigeration of payloads to T < 125 K
Jackson Kock, Alexander R. Albrecht, Richard I. Epstein, Mansoor Sheik‐Bahae
Abstract
A modified all-solid-state optical cryocooler prototype based on anti-Stokes fluorescence in a 10%-doped Yb:YLF crystal cooled a payload to temperatures below 125 K starting from room temperature. To achieve this record performance, the optical refrigerator employed a novel, to the best of our knowledge, textured-MgF 2 thermal link to improve the thermal transport and fluorescence escape. Additionally, it used spectrally selective, high-reflection coatings in the pump circulator cavity to suppress parasitic lasing and amplified spontaneous emission.
Topics & Concepts
Materials scienceOpticsLasing thresholdCirculatorCryocoolerOptoelectronicsFluorescenceRefrigerator carPhysicsWavelengthQuantum mechanicsThermodynamicsOptical properties and cooling technologies in crystalline materialsCold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein CondensatesThermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies