Eur. Phys. J. D 4, 139-144 (1998)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050193

Anisotropy of optical suppression in photoassociative ionization collisions within a slow, collimated sodium atom beam

Laboratory for Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Science and Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA

Corresponding author: ^a jweiner@annick2.umd.edu

Received: 8 January 1998
Revised: 6 April 1998
Accepted: 10 May 1998
Published online: 12 July 2013

Abstract

We report the observation of polarization anisotropy in the optical suppression of photoassociative ionization (PAI) collisions. Binary collisions occur within a tightly collimated and optically cooled velocity group of a single sodium beam. A laser beam, blue-detuned with respect to the atomic resonance transition, crosses the atomic beam and suppresses the PAI rate. We measure this suppression as a function of intensity and electric field vector aligned parallel or perpendicular to the atomic beam axis. Quantum close-coupling and multichannel curve-crossing calculations of model systems yield insight into the nature of the anisotropy and are in reasonable agreement with the measurements.