Fast and Robust Optical Cooling via Shortcut to Adiabaticity

Optical cooling is a key technique for preparing ultracold atoms in quantum technologies and precision experiments. We employ shortcut-to-adiabaticity (STA) techniques to accelerate and stabilize laser-based atomic cooling protocols. This approach improves the performance of conventional adiabatic momentum transfer schemes by addressing key limitations such as Doppler shifts, laser intensity fluctuations, and spontaneous emission. We first examine two- and three-level atomic systems subjected to counter-propagating laser pulses that induce momentum reduction through photon recoil. STA methods are then employed to construct pulse sequences that are robust against detuning errors and amplitude noise, outperforming standard π-pulse schemes in resilience. Meanwhile, we analyze the dissipative dynamics during the momentum transfer and demonstrate the superiority of the STA protocol in enhancing momentum transfer efficiency via accelerated control. The results demonstrate that STA can significantly improve both the efficiency and robustness of cooling. These findings have implications for applications in atomic physics, quantum information processing, and precision metrology.