Sisyphus cooling
nounEtymology Named after Sisyphus from Greek mythology, who was doomed eternally to roll a stone up a mountain, only to have it roll down again whenever he got it near the summit.
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Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics The use of specially selected laser light, hitting atoms from various angles to both cool and trap them in a potential well, effectively rolling the atoms down a hill of potential energy until they have lost their kinetic energy.