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AIP conference proceedings

Optical collisions in an atomic beam experiment

Joachim Großer, O. Hoffmann, Selina Klose

Published Jan 1, 1997• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

The optical collision Na(3s)+Kr+hν→Na(3p)+Kr has been investigated in an experiment with crossed atomic beams and with a differential detection of the excited collision products. Three groups of experimental results have been obtained, which all demonstrate unprecedented possibilities for the observation of atomic collisions. 1. The oscillatory structure of the differential cross sections allows a sensitive test of the molecular potentials. 2. Polarization experiments give direct information about the geometric characteristics of the collision complex. 3. State analysis of the collision products provides a tool for the observation of elementary nonadiabatic processes. A number of possible future experiments, which make use of the new ideas, is discussed, in addition.

DOI
10.1063/1.51839

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The optical collision Na(3s)+Kr+hν→Na(3p)+Kr has been investigated in an experiment with crossed atomic beams and with a differential detection of the excited collision products. Three groups of experimental results have been obtained, which all demonstrate unprecedented possibilities for the observation of atomic collisions. 1. The oscillatory structure of the differential cross sections allows a sensitive test of the molecular potentials. 2. Polarization experiments give direct information about the geometric characteristics of the collision complex. 3. State analysis of the collision products provides a tool for the observation of elementary nonadiabatic processes. A number of possible future experiments, which make use of the new ideas, is discussed, in addition.
We measured the angular distribution of the excited Na atoms from the process Na(Ss)+Kr+h nu to Na(3p)+Kr. The photon energy is detuned by 50 cm -1 from the Na resonance energy and the optical transition can occur only when the atoms are close to each other. The angular resolution allows the observation only of the general structure of the cross section, but not of finer details. We describe the experimental method and the experimental difficulties, especially the origin of a number of competing signals. We discuss the process as a new way of observing the collision Na+Kr, using the photon as a probe.
Optical collisions in a crossed beam experiment are examined for the atomic collision pairs LiHe, LiNe, NaNe.Differential cross sections are measured in order to probe the quallity of quantum chemical calculated and spectroscopical determined molecular potentials.The linear polarization of the excitation laser is used to manipulate the contrast of the differential cross sections for NaNe.Using elliptical polarized light total control over the angular position and the contrast of the interference pattern is demonstrated.Differential cross sections for the collision pairs LiH and LiD show a pronounced oscillatory structure, which for the first time is observed for atom-molecule optical collisions.
Optical collisions are studied in a crossed beams experiment. Differential cross sections of K-Ar collisions are measured and are used to derive the repulsive parts of the XΣ and BΣ potential curves. The achieved accuracy has not been realized with scattering experiments before. A collision energy resolved analysis of the final state probes the relative population of the fine-structure states K(4p1/2) and K(4p3/2) which depends on details of the outer part of the potentials. Calculations from the determined potentials are in concordance with the experimental results. The relative population of the Na fine-structure states after Na-N2 and Na-O2 collisions is determined similarly. The results for N2 are in very good agreement with the theory. Differential cross sections of Ca-Ar optical collisions are measured for an asymptotically forbidden transition. The spectral dependence of the signal intensity shows a characteristic maximum. The experimental data are in good agreement with ab initio calculations. Wires on a microchip create a magnetic trap that is used to obtain a Rb-87 Bose-Einstein condensate. The roughness of the magnetic potential is characterized by the measured density of a cold atom cloud. The measured roughness is compared to the roughness that is calculated from the geometry of the microwire.
Collisions studies using optically state selected beams is discussed. Measurements of spin resolved differential cross sections for superelastic scattering of electrons from excited sodium atoms (3P) are reported. The excited states are prepared by laser optical pumping with circularly polarized light thus giving a pure atomic state before the collision. A crossed beam arrangement of sodium atoms and electrons is used with a scattered electron detector. Scattered electron intensity as a function of scattering angle, incident electron energy, and relative orientation of the incident electronic and atomic spins is measured. 8 refs., 10 figs.
Electron scattering by excited sodium atoms has been carried out in a crossed-beam experiment. The atoms have been optically pumped into a well defined hyperfine level (3 2 P 3 2/F=3) by a tunable CW dye laser. For two of the most prominent scattering processes, the 3 2 P to 3 2 S and 3 2 P to 4 2 S transitions, the effect of the anisotropy of the initial state introduced by the laser light is studied in detail and is interpreted in terms of multipole moments describing the optical excitation and the collision process. Possibilities and limitations of the experiment are discussed. Electron collisions may be seen as a test case for the understanding of more involved interaction processes.