Control of Ultracold Collisions with Frequency-Chirped Light

Journal Article · Fri Aug 05 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.063001· OSTI ID:20699283

Wright, M J; Gould, P L ^[1]; Gensemer, S D ^[2]; Vala, J ^[3]; Kosloff, R ^[4]

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1. Department of Physics, U-3046, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269 (United States)
2. Van der Waals-Zeeman Institut, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Valckenierstraat 65, 1018 XE Amsterdam (Netherlands)
3. Department of Chemistry and Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
4. Department of Physical Chemistry and the Fritz Haber Research Center for Molecular Dynamics, the Hebrew University, 91094 Jerusalem (Israel)

We report on ultracold atomic collision experiments utilizing frequency-chirped laser light. A rapid chirp below the atomic resonance results in adiabatic excitation to an attractive molecular potential over a wide range of internuclear separation. This leads to a transient inelastic collision rate which is large compared to that obtained with fixed-frequency excitation. The combination of high efficiency and temporal control demonstrates the benefit of applying the techniques of coherent control to the ultracold domain.

• OSTI ID: 20699283
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 95; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ATOM-ATOM COLLISIONS
CONTROL
EFFICIENCY
EXCITATION
LASERS
POTENTIALS
RESONANCE
VISIBLE RADIATION