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A high density target of ultracold atoms and momentum resolved measurements of ion-atom collisions

Simone Götz

Published Jan 1, 2012• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this thesis an ultracold high density target with high loading flux in combination with a recoil ion momentum spectrometer (RIMS) is presented. Trapped rubidium atoms serve as a high density target (up to 10¹¹ atoms/cm³) at a temperature of only 200 µK. The target is loaded from a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (2D MOT), which delivers an atom beam with a brilliance of 8 x 10¹² atoms/(s*rad) and a longitudinal momentum spread of 0.25 a.u.. The great advantage of this source is that the cold atom beam can be used as a target itself. The experimental setup, including the RIMS and the targets, are characterized using one-color two-photon ionization experiments. After the successful commissioning presented in this thesis the experiment is ready to be connected to the HITRAP beamline at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, where multiple charge transfer between ultracold atoms and highly charged ions up to bare uranium can be investigated. In a different experimental setup, in collaboration with the KVI in Groningen, the Netherlands, first experiments on the energy dependence of double charge transfer in alkali-ion collisions are preformed. Using RIMS, two distinct double capture mechanisms, sequential transfer and correlated transfer, are identified and the respective differential cross sections are determined. The effective interaction time of the collision is varied by changing the projectile's velocity. At short interaction times the sequential transfer is dominant, while at longer interaction times the correlated transfer becomes more important.

DOI
10.11588/heidok.00013352

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In this thesis an ultracold high density target with high loading flux in combination with a recoil ion momentum spectrometer (RIMS) is presented. Trapped rubidium atoms serve as a high density target (up to 10¹¹ atoms/cm³) at a temperature of only 200 µK. The target is loaded from a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (2D MOT), which delivers an atom beam with a brilliance of 8 x 10¹² atoms/(s*rad) and a longitudinal momentum spread of 0.25 a.u.. The great advantage of this source is that the cold atom beam can be used as a target itself. The experimental setup, including the RIMS and the targets, are characterized using one-color two-photon ionization experiments. After the successful commissioning presented in this thesis the experiment is ready to be connected to the HITRAP beamline at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, where multiple charge transfer between ultracold atoms and highly charged ions up to bare uranium can be investigated. In a different experimental setup, in collaboration with the KVI in Groningen, the Netherlands, first experiments on the energy dependence of double charge transfer in alkali-ion collisions are preformed. Using RIMS, two distinct double capture mechanisms, sequential transfer and correlated transfer, are identified and the respective differential cross sections are determined. The effective interaction time of the collision is varied by changing the projectile's velocity. At short interaction times the sequential transfer is dominant, while at longer interaction times the correlated transfer becomes more important.
A novel apparatus has been developed in which atoms in a magneto-optical trap are used as targets in ion-atom collision experiments. The apparatus is an extension of earlier methodology in which the momentum of the recoiling target is measured and used to deduce the collision Q value and projectile scattering angle. In the present work, the low temperature of the target atoms yields increased momentum resolution, which in turn leads to improved Q value and scattering angle resolution. In addition, because the trapping process leaves some fraction of the atoms in an excited state, the new methodology is ideal for the study of collisions with excited targets. The prototypical system presented is low energy charge transfer between singly charged alkali ions and trapped rubidium atoms in the ground and first excited state.
A new magneto-optical trap-target recoil ion momentum spectroscopy apparatus has been built and tested at the LPC-CAEN. Dedicated to ion-atom collisions studies and excited fraction measurements, the setup combines a projectile ion beam line, a target of cold rubidium atoms provided by a magneto-optical trap (MOT), and a recoil ion momentum spectrometer. In a test experiment using a beam of Na(+) projectiles, we demonstrate its capability to measure, with a very high signal over background ratio, fully differential cross sections in scattering angle, initial state, and final state of the system. We detail, in this work, features that had not been described previously in the literature: an extraction of the recoil ions transverse to the ion beam axis, and a fast switch for the MOT magnetic field. Advantages of transverse versus longitudinal extraction are discussed, and future possibilities for the setup are presented.
We report on a compact and transportable apparatus that consists of a cold atomic target at the center of a high resolution recoil ion momentum spectrometer. Cold rubidium atoms serve as a target which can be operated in three different modes: in continuous mode, consisting of a cold atom beam generated by a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap, in normal mode in which the atoms from the beam are trapped in a three-dimensional magneto-optical trap (3D MOT), and in high density mode in which the 3D MOT is operated in dark spontaneous optical trap configuration. The targets are characterized using photoionization.
A new experiment is being built at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) within the PRIOC project (Precision studies on Ion Collisions) where a reaction microscope (Remi) and a magneto-optical trap (MOT) as target are combined to a so called MOTRemi. This setup will be implemented into the ion storage ring 'Testspeicherring' (TSR) of the MPIK. The world-wide unique combination of these three state-of-the-art technologies shall enable to perform kinematically complete studies of ion-atom collision with unprecedented detail and resolution. In this thesis, a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (2D-MOT) was developed and tested as a source of slow lithium atoms for the loading of the target MOT. This method allows a very compact setup and oers a collimated beam and a ux of cold atoms comparable to the highest uxes achieved by using laser cooling. The temperature of the atomic beam was determined to be at the scale of a few Kelvin and, thus, it is already an adequate stand-alone target for momentum resolved experiments.
We study photoionization of cold rubidium atoms in a strong infrared laser field using a magneto-optical trap (MOT) recoil ion momentum spectrometer. Three types of cold rubidium target are provided, operating in two-dimension (2D) MOT, 2D molasses, and 3D MOT with densities in the orders of 10710^7107 atoms/cm3^33, 10810^8108 atoms/cm3^33, and 10910^9109 atoms/cm3^33, respectively. The density profile and the temperature of 3D MOT are characterized using the absorption imaging and photoionization. The momentum distributions of Rb+^++ created by absorption of two- or three-photon illuminate a dipole-like double-peak structure, in good agreement with the results in the strong field approximation. The yielding momentum resolution of 0.12±0.030.12 \pm 0.030.12±0.03 a.u. is achieved in comparison with theoretical calculations, exhibiting the great prospects for the study of electron correlations in alkali metal atoms through interaction with strong laser pulses.
Over the recent years a new research field emerged that combines technologies for cooling and trapping of neutral atoms and charged ions in one experimental apparatus. These atom-ion hybrid traps enable the investigation of atom-ion interactions at unprecedentedly low collision energies targeting the ultracold s-wave regime. In this thesis I report on experiments performed in an hybrid atom-ion apparatus combining single Ba^+ or Rb^+ ions with ultracold neutral Rb atoms. The main focus of this work is studying the emerging three-body reaction dynamics in a cold charged gas. First, I will present measurements investigating cold reactions in the hetero-nuclear Ba^+ - Rb system. So far, most theoretical and experimental studies have been dealing with reactions between two particles. However, we find that three-body reactions already dominate over two-body ones at atomic densities down to 10^{−11} cm^{−3} once collision energies are in the low mK regime. We then investigate the energy scaling of inelastic ternary collisions between an ion and two atoms. A power-law scaling of the three-body rate coefficient is predicted by theory. We find agreement with the experiment if we include the ion’s kinetic energy distribution that we access numerically. The next study elaborates on the very first observation of ternary reactions in a hybrid cold atom-ion setup. For this we immerse a single Rb^+ ion into ultracold Rb atoms with sufficiently reduced excess micromotion. Occurring reactions are signaled by the creation of highly energetic Rb^+ ions. I will also showcase novel techniques to investigate the atom and the ion system by using the respective other one which were developed by us over the course of the last years. In order to reduce the total ion kinetic energy in a Paul trap one has to compensate the ion’s excess micromotion. This is routinely being done by analyzing the ion’s fluorescence. By observing collision energy dependent elastic atom-ion collisions in an ultracold atom cloud we directly infer the ion’s micromotion energy. This way we can perform atom-ion experiments with optically dark Rb^+ ions and good excess micromotion. Without the need of visible laser light for micromotion compensation we are able to investigate the evolution of quasi-static stray electric fields in a Paul trap over a period of several months. The last study I will present is targeted at neutral Rb only. There, we spectroscopically access the molecular state distribution of Rb_2 molecules formed in neutral three-body recombination by state-selective ionization of these molecules. Trapping and subsequent detection of these ions is being done with our Paul trap, which has the role of a very sensitive single ion detector in these measurements.