Comparison of the cold-collision losses for laser-trapped sodium in different ground-state hyperfine sublevels

Journal Article · Thu Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1994 · Physical Review A; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.50.R4449· OSTI ID:6804511

Shang, S; Lu, Z; Freedman, S J ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)

We have measured the cold-collision loss rates of laser-trapped Na atoms in each ground-state hyperfine sublevel. The laser intensity dependence for the [ital F]=1 sublevel agrees with a simple theory and we establish experimentally that hyperfine-level-changing collision losses are absent as expected. We observed hyperfine-level-changing collisions in the [ital F]=2 sublevel but the dependence of the loss-rate constant on laser intensity disagrees with simple theories. Unexpected behavior observed for total trapping laser light intensity between 4 and 12 mW/cm[sup 2] may be a consequence of the sub-Doppler cooling in the [ital F]=2 trap.

• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098; W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 6804511
• Journal Information: Physical Review A; (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review A; (United States) Vol. 50:6; ISSN PLRAAN; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

664200* -- Spectra of Atoms & Molecules & their Interactions with Photons-- (1992-)
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ALKALI METALS
ATOM COLLISIONS
ATOM-ATOM COLLISIONS
ATOMIC BEAMS
BEAM COOLING
BEAMS
COLLISIONS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LEVELS
ENERGY LOSSES
EVALUATION
FLUORESCENCE
GROUND STATES
HYPERFINE STRUCTURE
KINETICS
LASERS
LOSSES
LUMINESCENCE
MAGNETO-OPTICAL EFFECTS
METALS
MOMENTUM COOLING
PARTICLE LOSSES
RELAXATION LOSSES
RESONANCE
SODIUM
STOCHASTIC COOLING
TRAPS