Theory of evaporative cooling with energy-dependent elastic scattering cross section and application to metastable helium

Journal Article · Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2004 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.70.013404· OSTI ID:20645769

Tol, Paul J.J.; Hogervorst, Wim; Vassen, Wim ^[1]

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1. Laser Centre Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam (Netherlands)

The kinetic theory of evaporative cooling developed by Luiten et al. [Phys. Rev. A 53, 381 (1996)] is extended to include the dependence of the elastic scattering cross section on collision energy. We introduce a simple approximation by which the transition range between the low-temperature limit and the unitarity limit is described as well. Applying the modified theory to our measurements on evaporative cooling of metastable helium, we find a scattering length a=10(5) nm.

• OSTI ID: 20645769
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 70, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.70.013404; (c) 2004 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ATOM-ATOM COLLISIONS
ATOMS
BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATION
CROSS SECTIONS
ELASTIC SCATTERING
ENERGY DEPENDENCE
EVAPORATIVE COOLING
HELIUM
LASER RADIATION
METASTABLE STATES
SCATTERING LENGTHS
UNITARITY