Collisions of Cold Magnesium Atoms in a Weak Laser Field

Published

June 1, 1999

Author(s)

M Machholm, Paul S. Julienne, K A. Suominen

Abstract

We calculate the laser-induced collisional loss of laser-cooled and trapped magnesium atoms for detunings up to 30 atomic linewidths to the red of ¹S_O -> ¹P₁ cooling transition. Magnesium is an excellent test case for theoretical studies, because it can be laser cooled and yet it has no hyperfine structure to complicate the theoretical studies. The trap loss spectrum due to the dipole forbidden ¹II_gabsorption from the ¹Ξ_u ground state is excited by virtue of relativistic retardation corrections to the molecualr transition moment and can exhibit vibrational state structure even at small laser detunings. However, trap loss by the radiative escape mechanism via allowed ¹XI}_u excitation is dominant for more than 3 linewidths detuning.

Citation

Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics)

Volume

59

Issue

No. 6

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

laser cooling, magnesium, photoassociation, trap loss collisions, ultracold atomic collisions

Citation

Machholm, M. , Julienne, P. and Suominen, K. (1999), Collisions of Cold Magnesium Atoms in a Weak Laser Field, Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics) (Accessed July 7, 2024)