Observation of quantum diffractive collisions using shallow atomic traps
| Autor: | Bruce G. Klappauf, Chenchong Zhu, Jicheng Wang, Pavle Djuricanin, David E. Fagnan, Kirk W. Madison, James Booth |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2009 |
| Předmět: |
Physics
Condensed Matter::Quantum Gases Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) FOS: Physical sciences 01 natural sciences Atomic and Molecular Physics and Optics Elastic collision Physics - Atomic Physics 010309 optics Trap (computing) Cross section (physics) Magnetic trap 0103 physical sciences Physics::Atomic Physics Atomic physics 010306 general physics Quadrupole magnet Quantum Loss rate Energy (signal processing) |
| Popis: | We present measurements and calculations of the trap loss rate for laser cooled Rb atoms confined in either a magneto-optic or a magnetic quadrupole trap when exposed to a room temperature background gas of Ar. We study the loss rate as a function of trap depth and find that copious glancing elastic collisions, which occur in the so-called quantum-diffractive regime and impart very little energy to the trapped atoms, result in significant differences in the loss rate for the MOT compared to a pure magnetic trap due solely to the difference in potential depth. This finding highlights the importance of knowing the trap depth when attempting to infer the total collision cross section from measurements of trap loss rates. Moreover, this variation of trap loss rate with trap depth can be used to extract information about the differential cross section. 9 pages, 9 figures |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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