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Physical Review A

Inelastic cold collisions of a Na/Rb mixture in a magneto-optical trap

Gustavo Deczka Telles, Luís Gustavo Marcassa, Sérgio Ricardo Muniz, S. Miranda, Andrea Antunes, Christoph Ira Westbrook, Vanderlei Salvador Bagnato

Published Jan 1, 1999• 49 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report results on inelastic cold collisions for a mixed species magneto-optical trap containing Na and Rb. The rate of collisional trap loss of Na is due to different contributions: Na-Na and Na-Rb collisions. Both parts are investigated with respect to trap laser intensity and frequency. The observations are explained based on a Gallagher-Pritchard model. Possibilities for studies and applications involving mixed species traps are discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.59.r23

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Trap-loss rates due to hyperfine--structure-changing collisions involving cold Na and K atoms in a mixed species magneto-optical trap have been measured. The investigations were performed in the low intensity regime, where hyperfine--structure-changing collision are believed to be the dominant mechanism for atomic losses. Comparison between homonuclear (Na-Na) and heteronuclear (Na-K) collision rate coefficients reveals a higher loss rate in the case of heteronuclear collisions. Results obtained in the regime of low trap laser intensity are compared with existent loss rates for several alkali metals, showing themselves to be in good agreement with those expected.
Summary form only given. We present a set of experimental results of trap loss rate for the following mixtures: Na-Rb, K-Rb, Na-K, Rb-Cs and Cs-K. The analysis of our data set allows us to conclude that radiative escape is the main loss mechanism and we observed the significant contribution of the double-excited potential (both atoms excited) for the losses on the studied species. We also have applied an adapted Gallagher-Pritchard model to understand the importance of the reduced mass and the trap depth.
We investigate collisional properties of lithium and cesium which are simultaneously confined in a combined magneto-optical trap. Trap-loss collisions between the two species are comprehensively studied. Different inelastic collision channels are identified, and inter-species rate coefficients as well as cross sections are determined. It is found that loss rates are independent of the optical excitation of Li, as a consequence of the repulsive Li∗^*∗-Cs interaction. Li and Cs loss by inelastic inter-species collisions can completely be attributed to processes involving optically excited cesium (fine-structure changing collisions and radiative escape). By lowering the trap depth for Li, an additional loss channel of Li is observed which results from ground-state Li-Cs collisions changing the hyperfine state of cesium.
We report measurements of collisional rate constants for cold Rb atoms held in a magneto-optical trap. 85Rb^{85}\mathrm{Rb}85Rb and 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb display significantly different behavior. At low trap laser intensities, atoms which undergo a hyperfine-changing collision gain sufficient velocity to escape the trap. Since the hyperfine splittings are quite different for the isotopes, the loss rates display a large isotopic dependence in this regime. At higher trap laser intensities, where trap loss is due to inelastic collisions involving excited atoms, a dramatic and unexpected isotopic dependence is seen. Under identical conditions, the loss rate for 85Rb^{85}\mathrm{Rb}85Rb is 3.3 times that of 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb.