This thesis presents experimental and theoretical work performed at the Laser Centre of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam to study laser-cooled metastable triplet helium atoms. Samples containing about 3x10^8 helium atoms-either fermionic helium-3 atoms, bosonic helium-4 atoms or mixtures thereof-are cooled to a temperature around 1 mK and form the starting point of the presented studies. The studies include an investigation of cold ionizing collisions in the absence of resonant light, an investigation of magneto-optical trapping with ultraviolet light, a feasibility study of an atomic fountain clock based on metastable helium-3 atoms and the first demonstration of magneto-optical trapping of an isotopic mixture of metastable helium atoms.This thesis presents experimental and theoretical work performed at the Laser Centre of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam to study laser-cooled metastable triplet helium atoms. Samples containing about 3x10^8 helium atoms-either fermionic helium-3 atoms, bosonic helium-4 atoms or mixtures thereof-are cooled to a temperature around 1 mK and form the starting point of the presented studies. The studies include an investigation of cold ionizing collisions in the absence of resonant light, an investigation of magneto-optical trapping with ultraviolet light, a feasibility study of an atomic fountain clock based on metastable helium-3 atoms and the first demonstration of magneto-optical trapping of an isotopic mixture of metastable helium atoms.

Jun 1, 20051 citation

Scattering of H¯(1s) off metastable helium atom at thermal energies

Prabal K. Sinha, Arnab Ghosh

Quantal calculations for scattering of ground-state antihydrogen by metastable $(n=2S)$ helium atoms have been performed using the nonadiabatic, atomic orbital expansion technique at thermal energies. The zero-energy elastic cross sections of the present systems are much greater than the corresponding value for the ground-state helium target. The low-energy elastic cross section for the singlet metastable helium $[\mathrm{He}(2\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{1}S)]$ target is higher than the corresponding value when the target is in the metastable triplet state $[\mathrm{He}(2\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{3}S)]$ .Quantal calculations for scattering of ground-state antihydrogen by metastable $(n=2S)$ helium atoms have been performed using the nonadiabatic, atomic orbital expansion technique at thermal energies. The zero-energy elastic cross sections of the present systems are much greater than the corresponding value for the ground-state helium target. The low-energy elastic cross section for the singlet metastable helium $[\mathrm{He}(2\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{1}S)]$ target is higher than the corresponding value when the target is in the metastable triplet state $[\mathrm{He}(2\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{3}S)]$.

Physical Review AJun 12, 20062 citations

The interaction of metastable helium atoms with alkali atoms

M.‐W. Ruf, Andrew J. Yencha, Hartmut Hotop

Zeitschrift für Physik D Atoms Molecules and ClustersMar 1, 198741 citations

Quantal calculations for scattering of ground-state antihydrogen by metastable

(n=2S)

helium atoms have been performed using the nonadiabatic, atomic orbital expansion technique at thermal energies. The zero-energy elastic cross sections of the present systems are much greater than the corresponding value for the ground-state helium target. The low-energy elastic cross section for the singlet metastable helium

[\mathrm{He}(2\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{1}S)]

target is higher than the corresponding value when the target is in the metastable triplet state

[\mathrm{He}(2\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{3}S)]