Two body loss rate in a magneto-optical trap of metastable He

A. Browaeys; J. Poupard; A. Robert; S. Nowak; W. Rooijakkers; E. Arimondo; L. Marcassa; D. Boiron; C. I. Westbrook; A. Aspect

doi:10.1007/s100530050027

EPJ

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2022 Impact factor 1.8

Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics

Eur. Phys. J. D 8, 199-203 (2000)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050027

Two body loss rate in a magneto-optical trap of metastable He

A. Browaeys¹, J. Poupard¹, A. Robert¹, S. Nowak¹, W. Rooijakkers¹, E. Arimondo², L. Marcassa³, D. Boiron¹, C. I. Westbrook¹ and A. Aspect¹

¹ Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique (Unité Mixte du CNRS No. 8501) , B.P. 147, 91403 Orsay Cedex, France
² INFM and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, Piazza Torricelli 2, 56126 Pisa, Italy
³ IFSC, Universidad of São Paulo, Caixa Postal 369, 13560-970, São Carlos S.P., Brazil

Received: 20 April 1999
Revised: 12 July 1999
Published online: 15 February 2000

Abstract

We have measured the two body loss rate in a magneto-optical trap containing triplet metastable He atoms. We find a rate constant cm³/s at a -8 MHz detuning, with an uncertainty of a factor 2. This measurement is in disagreement with a recent experiment which measures the absolute, ion-producing collision rate, but agrees with several other published measurements.