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Physical Review Letters

Recoil Momentum Spectroscopy of Highly Charged Ion Collisions on Magneto-Optically Trapped Na

Jan Willem Turkstra, R. Hoekstra, Steven Knoop, D. Meyer, Reinhard Morgenstern, R. E. Olson

Published Aug 31, 2001• 59 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have used a cold ( T<<1 mK), laser-cooled target of Na atoms confined in a magneto-optical trap to study electron capture processes during highly charged ion-sodium atom collisions at keV energies. Momentum distributions of target ions were determined by employing time-of-flight and position sensitive detection of the Na ions, produced during the collisions and extracted by a weak electric field. In this way impact parameter sensitive information about multielectron capture processes is obtained.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.87.123202

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The trapping lasers of a magneto-optical trap have been used to bring Rb atoms into well defined oriented states. Coupled to recoil-ion-momentum spectroscopy, this provided a unique MOTRIMS setup which was able to probe scattering dynamics, including the coherence features, with unprecedented resolution. The technique was applied to the low-energy charge exchange reactions Na+ + Rb(5p±1)→Na(3p,4s)+Rb+. The measurements revealed detailed features of the collisional interaction which were employed to improve the theoretical description. As such, it was possible to ascertain the validity of the intuitive models used to predict the most likely capture transitions.
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