We report beam-loss photoassociation (PA) spectra of cold collisions within a slow, bright Na atom beam near the ${D}_{1}$ resonance line. The high collimation and brilliance of the atomic beam permits the detection of atomic fluorescence loss resulting from the photoassociation of cold sodium atoms. The results show that even at high PA laser intensities, where strong coupling of the colliding atoms to the optical field might obscure spectral features, vibrational and rotational progressions are surprisingly well resolved. We attribute the conservation of narrow spectral features to the properties of the saturated line shapes and to the unconventional collision energy distribution in one-dimensional (1D) single-beam collisions compared to 3D collisions in a gas cell.We report beam-loss photoassociation (PA) spectra of cold collisions within a slow, bright Na atom beam near the ${D}_{1}$ resonance line. The high collimation and brilliance of the atomic beam permits the detection of atomic fluorescence loss resulting from the photoassociation of cold sodium atoms. The results show that even at high PA laser intensities, where strong coupling of the colliding atoms to the optical field might obscure spectral features, vibrational and rotational progressions are surprisingly well resolved. We attribute the conservation of narrow spectral features to the properties of the saturated line shapes and to the unconventional collision energy distribution in one-dimensional (1D) single-beam collisions compared to 3D collisions in a gas cell.

Physical Review AApr 9, 20047 citations

Anisotropy of optical suppression in photoassociative ionization collisions\nwithin a slow, collimated sodium atom beam

C.-C. Tsao, Y. Wang, R. Napolitano +1 more

\n We report the observation of polarization anisotropy in the optical\nsuppression of photoassociative ionization (PAI) collisions. Binary\ncollisions occur within a tightly collimated and optically cooled velocity\ngroup of a single sodium beam. A laser beam, blue-detuned with respect to\nthe atomic resonance transition, crosses the atomic beam and suppresses the\nPAI rate. We measure this suppression as a function of intensity and\nelectric field vector aligned parallel or perpendicular to the atomic beam\naxis. Quantum close-coupling and multichannel curve-crossing calculations of\nmodel systems yield insight into the nature of the anisotropy and are in\nreasonable agreement with the measurements.\n\n \n\n We report the observation of polarization anisotropy in the optical\nsuppression of photoassociative ionization (PAI) collisions. Binary\ncollisions occur within a tightly collimated and optically cooled velocity\ngroup of a single sodium beam. A laser beam, blue-detuned with respect to\nthe atomic resonance transition, crosses the atomic beam and suppresses the\nPAI rate. We measure this suppression as a function of intensity and\nelectric field vector aligned parallel or perpendicular to the atomic beam\naxis. Quantum close-coupling and multichannel curve-crossing calculations of\nmodel systems yield insight into the nature of the anisotropy and are in\nreasonable agreement with the measurements.\n\n \n

Jul 12, 20130 citations

Sodium Atoms Trapped With Laser Light

Arthur L. Robinson

ScienceAug 8, 19862 citations

We report beam-loss photoassociation (PA) spectra of cold collisions within a slow, bright Na atom beam near the

{D}_{1}

resonance line. The high collimation and brilliance of the atomic beam permits the detection of atomic fluorescence loss resulting from the photoassociation of cold sodium atoms. The results show that even at high PA laser intensities, where strong coupling of the colliding atoms to the optical field might obscure spectral features, vibrational and rotational progressions are surprisingly well resolved. We attribute the conservation of narrow spectral features to the properties of the saturated line shapes and to the unconventional collision energy distribution in one-dimensional (1D) single-beam collisions compared to 3D collisions in a gas cell.