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Physical Review A

Enhanced cooling of hydrogen by a buffer gas of alkali-metal atoms

Andrei Derevianko, Robin Côté, A. Dalgarno, Gwang‐Hi Jeung

Published Jun 12, 2001• 18 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We consider the possibility of enhanced cooling of hydrogen atoms by a buffer gas of alkali-metal atoms Na, K, Rb, and Cs. Ultracold elastic collision cross sections for the Na-H and Rb-H purely spin-polarized pairs are found to be 640 and 860 times larger than that for the H-H pair, respectively. From an analysis of the techniques of production of ultracold sodium and rubidium samples, it seems feasible that the critical conditions for Bose-Einstein condensation of hydrogen could be achieved already at the stage of optical cooling of the sodium or rubidium buffer gas.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.64.011404

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Maykel Leonardo González-Martínez, Jeremy M. Hutson

We show theoretically that ultracold hydrogen atoms have very favorable properties for sympathetic cooling of molecules to microkelvin temperatures. We calculate the potential energy surfaces for spin-polarized interactions of H atoms with the prototype molecules $\mathrm{NH}(^{3}\ensuremath{\Sigma}^{\ensuremath{-}})$ and $\mathrm{OH}(^{2}\ensuremath{\Pi})$ and show that they are shallow (50 to $80\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$) and only weakly anisotropic. We carry out quantum collision calculations on $\mathrm{H}+\mathrm{NH}$ and $\mathrm{H}+\mathrm{OH}$ and show that the ratio of elastic to inelastic cross sections is high enough to allow sympathetic cooling from temperatures well over 1 K for NH and around 250 mK for OH.

arXiv:1305.6282•Physical Review Letters•Nov 12, 2013•16 citations
We consider the possibility of enhanced cooling of hydrogen atoms by a buffer gas of alkali-metal atoms Na, K, Rb, and Cs. Ultracold elastic collision cross sections for the Na-H and Rb-H purely spin-polarized pairs are found to be 640 and 860 times larger than that for the H-H pair, respectively. From an analysis of the techniques of production of ultracold sodium and rubidium samples, it seems feasible that the critical conditions for Bose-Einstein condensation of hydrogen could be achieved already at the stage of optical cooling of the sodium or rubidium buffer gas.
We have investigated the sss-wave elastic scattering of antihydrogen atoms off atomic alkali-metal targets (Li, Na, K, and Rb) at thermal energies $({10}^{\ensuremath{-}16}--{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{a.u.})$ using an atomic orbital expansion technique. The elastic cross sections of these systems at thermal energies are found to be very high compared to $\overline{\mathrm{H}}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{H}$ and $\overline{\mathrm{H}}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{He}$ systems. The theoretical models employed in this study are so chosen to consider long-range forces dynamically in the calculation. The mechanism of cooling suggests that Li may be considered to be a good candidate as a buffer gas for enhanced cooling of antihydrogen atoms to ultracold temperature.
Ultracold hydrogen offers unique possibilities for precision spectroscopy, studies of atomic interactions, and the creation of quantum fluids containing mixtures of hydrogen and deuterium. Current techniques for trapping and cooling hydrogen have produced large condensates with N ∼ 109 atoms, but suffer from a variety of experimental limitations. Among these are the slow evaporative cooling rate due to the small H–H elastic-scattering cross section, the need for a superfluid helium film in the initial thermalization process, a geometry that severely limits detection efficiency, and the inability to trap deuterium. We are constructing a new apparatus based on buffer-gas cooling that will overcome these problems. To accelerate evaporative cooling, the thermalization rate is increased by simultaneously loading lithium and hydrogen into a 4.2 T anti-Helmholtz trap. Lithium accelerates evaporative cooling because the Li–H elastic-scattering cross section is ∼1200 times larger than that of H–H. Hydrogen and lithium will be produced by laser ablation of solid LiH in a 3He buffer gas held at temperatures of ∼350 mK. Because no wall collisions are needed for initial thermalization, ablating a solid sample of LiD should enable studies of deuterium. The apparatus is in the final stages of construction. We report on results of initial tests and discuss the new scientific opportunities made possible by this approach.PACS No.: 32.80.Pj
The spin relaxation of optically pumped rubidium vapor induced by rubidium-rare-gas atomic collisions has been investigated in an ultraclean environment. The experiment was performed under conditions such that the partial pressure of nonrare-gas impurities was less than 1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}8}$ Torr, and that the time between Rb-Rb spin exchange collisions was short compared to the spin relaxation time. The cross sections (in cm2{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}cm2) for disorientation of rubidium were found to be: He, 3.3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}25}$; Ne, 3.3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}24}$; Ar, 1.1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}22}$; Kr, 7.3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}21}$; Xe, 1.3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}19}$. The fact that these cross sections are considerably smaller than previously reported values is attributed primarily to the low degree of impurity contamination in the present work. When compared with already existing values for cesium and sodium, the disorientation cross sections of these three alkali metals are seen to have a remarkably similar dependence on buffer-gas atomic number. The new experimental values are also compared with recent theoretical calculations.
We report on the realization of quantum degenerate gas mixtures of the alkaline-earth-metal element strontium with the alkali-metal element rubidium. A key ingredient of our scheme is sympathetic cooling of Rb by Sr atoms that are continuously laser cooled on a narrow-linewidth transition. This versatile technique allows us to produce ultracold gas mixtures with a phase-space density of up to 0.06 for both elements. By further evaporative cooling we create double Bose-Einstein condensates of 87{}^{87}87Rb with either 88{}^{88}88Sr or 84{}^{84}84Sr, reaching more than $1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{5}$ condensed atoms per element for the 84{}^{84}84Sr-87{}^{87}87Rb mixture. These quantum gas mixtures constitute an important step towards the production of a quantum gas of polar, open-shell RbSr molecules.
Collisions between ultracold neutral atoms have for some time been the subject of investigation, initially with hydrogen and more recently with laser cooled alkali atoms. Advances in laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms in a Magneto-Optic Trap (MOT) have made cold atoms available as the starting point for many laser cooled atomic physics investigations. The most spectacularly successful of these, the observation of Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) in a dilute ultra-cold spin polarized atomic vapor, has accelerated the study of cold collisions. Experimental and theoretical studies of BEC and the long range interaction between cold alkali atoms is at the boundary of atomic and low temperature physics. Such studies have been difficult and would not have been possible without the development and advancement of laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms. By contrast, ion-atom interactions at low temperature, also very difficult to study prior to modern day laser cooling, have remained largely unexplored. But now, many laboratories worldwide have almost routine access to cold neutral atoms. The combined technologies of ion trapping, together with laser cooling of neutrals has made these studies experimentally feasible and several very important, novel applications might come out of such investigations . This paper is an investigation of ion-atom interactions in the cold and ultra-cold temperature regime. Some of the collisional ion-atom interactions present at room temperature are very much reduced in the low temperature regime. Reaction rates for charge transfer between unlike atoms, A + B(+) approaches A(+) + B, are expected to fall rapidly with temperature, approximately as T(sup 5/2). Thus, cold mixtures of atoms and ions are expected to coexist for very long times, unlike room temperature mixtures of the same ion-atom combination. Thus, it seems feasible to cool ions via collisions with laser cooled atoms. Many of the conventional collisional interactions, exploited as a useful tool at room temperature and higher, are greatly enhanced at low energy. For example, collisional spin transfer from one species of polarized atoms to another has long been a useful method for polarizing a sample of atoms where no other means was available. Because optical pumping cannot be used to polarize the nuclear spin of Xe-129 or He-3 (for use in nmr imaging of the lungs), the nuclear spins are polarized via collisions with an optically pumped Rb vapor in a cell containing both gases. In another case, a spin polarized thermal Cs beam was used to polarize the hyperfine states of trapped He(+)-3 ions in order to measure their hyperfine clock transition frequency. The absence of an x-ray light source to optically pump the ground state of the He(+)-3 ion necessitated this alternative state preparation. Similarly, Cd(+) and Sr(+) ions were spin-oriented via collisions in a cell with optically pumped Rb vapor. Resonant RF spin changing transitions in the ground state of the ions were detected by changes in the Rb resonance light absorption. Because cold collision spin exchange rates scale with temperature as T(sup -1/2) this technique is expected to be a far more powerful tool than the room temperature counterpart. This factor of 100 or more enhancement in spin exchange reaction rates at low temperatures is the basis for a novel trapped ion clock where laser cooled neutrals will cool, state select and monitor the ion clock transition. The advantage over conventional direct laser cooling of trapped ions is that the very expensive and cumbersome UV laser light sources, required to excite the ionic cooling transition, are effectively replaced by simple diode lasers.
We show theoretically that ultracold hydrogen atoms have very favorable properties for sympathetic cooling of molecules to microkelvin temperatures. We calculate the potential energy surfaces for spin-polarized interactions of H atoms with the prototype molecules $\mathrm{NH}(^{3}\ensuremath{\Sigma}^{\ensuremath{-}})$ and $\mathrm{OH}(^{2}\ensuremath{\Pi})$ and show that they are shallow (50 to $80\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$) and only weakly anisotropic. We carry out quantum collision calculations on H+NH\mathrm{H}+\mathrm{NH}H+NH and H+OH\mathrm{H}+\mathrm{OH}H+OH and show that the ratio of elastic to inelastic cross sections is high enough to allow sympathetic cooling from temperatures well over 1 K for NH and around 250 mK for OH.