We report on laser cooling of a large fraction of positronium (Ps) in free-flight by strongly saturating the $1^3S$-$2^3P$ transition with a broadband, long-pulsed 243 nm alexandrite laser. The ground state Ps cloud is produced in a magnetic and electric field-free environment. We observe two different laser-induced effects. The first effect is an increase in the number of atoms in the ground state after the time Ps has spent in the long-lived $3^3P$ states. The second effect is the one-dimensional Doppler cooling of Ps, reducing the cloud's temperature from 380(20) K to 170(20) K. We demonstrate a 58(9) % increase in the coldest fraction of the Ps ensemble.
SSPALS spectra of positronium in vacuum without lasers, with the 205 nm and 1064 nm lasers, with the 243 nm laser only, and with all three lasers 243 nm, 205 nm and 1064 nm. The 243 nm laser is firing during the time window from −20 to 50 ns, while the 205 nm and 1064 nm are injected 75 ns after positron implantation time (t = 0 ns). Each curve is an average of 90 individual spectra. The statistical error is smaller than the linewidths. For analysis, the spectra were integrated between 150 and 400 ns.
Ps velocity distribution measured by SSPALS. Transverse Doppler profile measured by two-photon resonant ionization. A Gaussian fit yields an rms width of 44(1) pm, which translates to a Ps rms velocity of 5.3 $\pm$ 0.2 × 10$^4$ m/s after deconvoluting the laser bandwidth.
Ps velocity distribution measured by SSPALS. Velocity-resolved increase in the number of ground state Ps atoms, induced by the 243 nm transitory excitation to the 2$^3$P level. At resonance, the expected Lamb dip is observed. A 2-Gaussian fit yields an rms width of the enveloping Gaussian of 44(3) pm, which corresponds to a Ps rms velocity of 4.9 $\pm$ 0.4 × 10$^4$ m/s.
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