Summary form only given. We juggle atoms in an atomic fountain by launching two balls of laser-cooled Cs atoms in rapid succession. The two balls collide near the top of the fountain trajectory, and we detect the velocity of the scattered atoms, giving information on the differential scattering cross section.
Summary form only given. We juggle atoms in an atomic fountain by launching 2 balls of laser-cooled Cs atoms in rapid succession. The 2 balls collide near the top of the fountain and we detect the scattered atoms by measuring the changes in the atoms vertical velocity. Measuring the distribution of the velocity component along the collision axis gives the differential cross section. We scan the collision energy E/sub c/ by varying the time delay between launches and get the differential cross sections as a function of energy.
We demonstrate a juggling atomic fountain by launching two laser-cooled balls of 133Cs atoms in rapid succession. The atoms collide near the top of the fountain and, by varying the delay between launches, we scan the collision energy from 19 to $150\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$. We measure the differential scattering cross section and isolate the contributions from different partial waves including their interferences. We observe the s-wave energy dependence and the p-wave scattering threshold. We infer a triplet s-wave scattering length of ${\ensuremath{-}400a}_{0}$ and a p wave of $({\ensuremath{-}107a}_{0}{)}^{3}$ for ∣F=4,m=4〉+∣3,3〉.
We observe the angular distribution of s-wave scattering of Cs atoms in an atomic fountain by selecting and probing atomic velocities. At an average temperature of T=0.89 $\ensuremath{\mu}$K the scattering is predominantly s-wave and we have a sensitivity to p-wave cross sections as small as 0.1% of the s-wave. The cross section is $4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}11}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ for atoms in the F=3, mF=0 state colliding with atoms distributed among the F=4, mF states. We also demonstrate a multiply loaded magneto-optic trap and a temperature of 1.53(7) $\ensuremath{\mu}$K.