Large spin relaxation rates in trapped submerged-shell atoms

Journal Article · Fri Jan 15 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.81.010702· OSTI ID:21388661

Connolly, Colin B; Au, Yat Shan; Doret, S Charles; Doyle, John M ^[1]; Ketterle, Wolfgang ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 (United States)
2. Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)

Spin relaxation due to atom-atom collisions is measured for magnetically trapped erbium and thulium atoms at a temperature near 500 mK. The rate constants for Er-Er and Tm-Tm collisions are 3.0x10{sup -10} and 1.1x10{sup -10} cm{sup 3} s{sup -1}, respectively, 2-3 orders of magnitude larger than those observed for highly magnetic S-state atoms. This is strong evidence for an additional, dominant, spin relaxation mechanism, electronic interaction anisotropy, in collisions between these 'submerged-shell,' Lnot =0 atoms. These large spin relaxation rates imply that evaporative cooling of these atoms in a magnetic trap will be highly inefficient.

• OSTI ID: 21388661
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 81, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.81.010702; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ANISOTROPY
ATOM-ATOM COLLISIONS
ATOMS
ERBIUM
EVAPORATIVE COOLING
INTERACTIONS
REACTION KINETICS
RELAXATION
S STATES
SPIN
SULFUR IONS
THULIUM
TRAPPING
TRAPS
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
ATOM COLLISIONS
CHARGED PARTICLES
COLLISIONS
COOLING
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LEVELS
IONS
KINETICS
METALS
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
RARE EARTHS