  We propose an approach for cooling both an artificial atom (e.g., a flux
qubit) and its neighboring quantum system, the latter modeled by either a
quantum two-level system or a quantum resonator. The flux qubit is cooled by
manipulating its states, following an inverse process of state population
inversion, and then the qubit is switched on to resonantly interact with the
neighboring quantum system. By repeating these steps, the two subsystems can be
simultaneously cooled. Our results show that this cooling is robust and
effective, irrespective of the chosen quantum systems connected to the qubit.
