Published June 10, 2005 | Version v1
Journal article Metadata-only

Collisional Properties of Cold Spin-Polarized Metastable Neon Atoms

Creators

  • 1. Institut fuer Quantenoptik, Universitaet Hannover, Welfengarten 1, D-30167 Hannover (Germany)
  • 2. Institut fuer Angewandte Physik, Technische Universitaet Darmstadt, Schlossgartenstr. 7, D-64289 Darmstadt (Germany)

Description

We measure the rates of elastic and inelastic two-body collisions of cold spin-polarized neon atoms in the metastable 3P2 state for 20Ne and 22Ne in a magnetic trap. From particle loss, we determine the loss parameter of inelastic collisions β=6.5(18)x10-12 cm3 s-1 for 20Ne and β=1.2(3)x10-11 cm3 s-1 for 22Ne. 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)a0 for 20Ne and a=+150-50+80a0 for 22Ne, where a0=0.0529 nm

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.223201;
arXiv
arXiv:quant-ph/0502020v2;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review Letters
Journal Volume
94
Journal Issue
22
Journal Page Range
p. 223201-223201.4
ISSN
0031-9007
CODEN
PRLTAO

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
37012267
Subject category
S74: ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS;
Descriptors DEI
ATOM-ATOM COLLISIONS; ATOMS; ELASTIC SCATTERING; IONIZATION; METASTABLE STATES; NEON 20; NEON 22; RELAXATION; SPIN; SPIN ORIENTATION; TRAPS; TWO-BODY PROBLEM
Descriptors DEC
ANGULAR MOMENTUM; ATOM COLLISIONS; COLLISIONS; ENERGY LEVELS; EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI; EXCITED STATES; ISOTOPES; LIGHT NUCLEI; MANY-BODY PROBLEM; NEON ISOTOPES; NUCLEI; ORIENTATION; PARTICLE PROPERTIES; SCATTERING; STABLE ISOTOPES

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2005 The American Physical Society