Beam-Loss Spectroscopy of Cold Collisions in a Bright Sodium Beam

Published

April 1, 2004

Author(s)

J Ramirez-Serrano, W DeGraffenreid, J Weiner, Eite Tiesinga, Paul S. Julienne

Abstract

We report beam loss photoassociation (PA) spectra of cold collisions within a slow, bright Na atom beam near the D1 resonance line. The high collimation and brilliance of the atomic beam permits the detection of atomic fluorescence loss resulting from the photoassociation of cold sodium atoms. The results show that even at high PA laser intensities, where strong coupling of the colliding atoms to the optical field might obscure spectral features, vibrational and rotational progressions are surprisingly well resolved. We attribute the conservation of unconventional collision energy distribution in 1-D single-beam collisions compared to 3-D collisions in a gas cell.

Citation

Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics)

Volume

69

Issue

No 4

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

atomic beams, photoassociation, saturated lineshapes, ultra-cold atoms

Citation

Ramirez-Serrano, J. , DeGraffenreid, W. , Weiner, J. , Tiesinga, E. and Julienne, P. (2004), Beam-Loss Spectroscopy of Cold Collisions in a Bright Sodium Beam, Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics) (Accessed October 11, 2025)