Recoil temperature
In laser cooling, the Boltzmann constant times the recoil temperature is equal to the recoil energy deposited in a single atom initially at rest by the spontaneous emission of a single photon. The recoil temperature is
since the photon's momentum is . The recoil temperature for the D2 lines of alkali atoms is typically on the order of 1 μK, and thus lower than the Doppler temperature. An example of a process where the recoil temperature can be reached is Sisyphus cooling.
