These publications form the backbone of my thesis work: high-survival lithium imaging, a unified cooling theory, and cesium quadrupole cooling/background-free imaging.
PhD Thesis 2026
Cooling Lithium and Cesium Single Atoms in Optical Tweezers
Saumitra S. Phatak, Purdue University, Hood Lab
Dissertation covering laser cooling theory for trapped spinful atoms, high-survival lithium imaging, and narrow-line cesium cooling and imaging in optical tweezers.
@phdthesis{phatak2026thesis,
author = {Phatak, Saumitra S.},
title = {Cooling Lithium and Cesium Single Atoms in Optical Tweezers},
school = {Purdue University},
year = {2026},
url = {https://hammer.purdue.edu/articles/thesis/_b_Cooling_Lithium_and_Cesium_Single_Atoms_in_Optical_Tweezers_b_/32867018}
}
PRA 2025 · co-first
Narrow-Line Electric Quadrupole Cooling And Background-Free Imaging Of A Single Cs Atom With Spatially Structured Light
Karl N. Blodgett*, Saumitra S. Phatak*, Meng Raymond Chen, David Peana, Claire Pritts, Jonathan D. Hood
Demonstrates 685 nm quadrupole excitation of a single Cs atom in a tweezer using spatially structured light, enabling background-free 852 nm cascade imaging and narrow-line cooling.
@article{blodgett2025narrowline,
author = {Blodgett, Karl N. and Phatak, Saumitra S. and Chen, Meng Raymond and Peana, David and Pritts, Claire and Hood, Jonathan D.},
title = {Narrow-line electric quadrupole cooling and background-free imaging of a single {Cs} atom with spatially structured light},
journal = {Physical Review A},
volume = {112},
number = {4},
pages = {043109},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1103/vr4g-h995}
}
PRA 2024 · theory
Generalized theory for optical cooling of a trapped atom with spin
Saumitra S. Phatak, Karl N. Blodgett, David Peana, Meng Raymond Chen, Jonathan D. Hood
Develops a master-equation framework that connects sideband, polarization-gradient, gray-molasses, Λ-GM, EIT-like, and Raman cooling mechanisms for bound atoms with spin.
@article{phatak2024generalized,
author = {Phatak, Saumitra S. and Blodgett, Karl N. and Peana, David and Chen, Meng Raymond and Hood, Jonathan D.},
title = {Generalized theory for optical cooling of a trapped atom with spin},
journal = {Physical Review A},
volume = {110},
number = {4},
pages = {043116},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevA.110.043116}
}
PRL 2023
Imaging a 6Li Atom In An Optical Tweezer 2000 Times with Λ-Enhanced Gray Molasses
Karl N. Blodgett, David Peana, Saumitra S. Phatak, Lane M. Terry, Maria Paula Montes, Jonathan D. Hood
Reports high-fidelity fluorescence imaging of a single lithium atom in an optical tweezer, achieving 2000 consecutive images with 99.950% per-image survival.
@article{blodgett2023imaging,
author = {Blodgett, Karl N. and Peana, David and Phatak, Saumitra S. and Terry, Lane M. and Montes, Maria Paula and Hood, Jonathan D.},
title = {Imaging a 6Li Atom in an Optical Tweezer 2000 Times with Λ-Enhanced Gray Molasses},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
volume = {131},
number = {8},
pages = {083001},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.083001}
}