Collisional Properties of Cold Spin-Polarized Metastable Neon Atoms

Journal Article · Fri Jun 10 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.223201· OSTI ID:20696357

Spoden, P; Zinner, M; Drunen, W.J. van; Ertmer, W ^[1]; Herschbach, N; Birkl, G ^[1]

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1. Institut fuer Quantenoptik, Universitaet Hannover, Welfengarten 1, D-30167 Hannover (Germany)

We measure the rates of elastic and inelastic two-body collisions of cold spin-polarized neon atoms in the metastable {sup 3}P{sub 2} state for {sup 20}Ne and {sup 22}Ne in a magnetic trap. From particle loss, we determine the loss parameter of inelastic collisions {beta}=6.5(18)x10{sup -12} cm{sup 3} s{sup -1} for {sup 20}Ne and {beta}=1.2(3)x10{sup -11} cm{sup 3} s{sup -1} for {sup 22}Ne. These losses are caused by ionizing (i.e., Penning) collisions and occur less frequently than for unpolarized atoms. This proves the suppression of Penning ionization due to spin polarization. From cross-dimensional relaxation measurements, we obtain elastic scattering lengths of a=-180(40)a{sub 0} for {sup 20}Ne and a=+150{sub -50}{sup +80}a{sub 0} for {sup 22}Ne, where a{sub 0}=0.0529 nm.

• OSTI ID: 20696357
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 94; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOM-ATOM COLLISIONS
ATOMS
ELASTIC SCATTERING
IONIZATION
METASTABLE STATES
NEON 20
NEON 22
RELAXATION
SPIN
SPIN ORIENTATION
TRAPS
TWO-BODY PROBLEM