Cooling and resonance fluorescence of two atoms in a one-dimensional optical molasses

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Abstract
We derive a generalized master equation, which describes the quantized cooling of identical atoms in the laser fields. The effects of the dipole-dipole interaction between the atoms are included explicitly in the master equation. We then calculate the steady-state density matrix of two atoms cooled by a one-dimensional optical molasses. It is shown that when the mean separation between these atoms reduces below the optical wavelength λ/2π, cooling will be significantly limited due to the enhanced atom-atom interaction. Based on the quantum regression theorem, we also calculate the resonance fluorescence spectrum emitted by these two atoms, which exhibits features different from those of isolated atoms.