A method is proposed to cool down atoms in a harmonic trap without phase-space compression as in a perfectly slow adiabatic expansion, i.e., keeping the same populations of instantaneous levels in the initial and final traps, but in a much shorter time. This may require that the harmonic trap become transiently an expulsive parabolic potential. The cooling times achieved are shorter than those obtained using optimal-control bang-bang methods and real frequencies.

• Received 5 October 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.063002