Probing Ultracold Collisional Dynamics with Frequency-Chirped Pulses
Abstract
We report on the dynamics of ultracold collisions induced by near-resonant frequency-chirped light. A series of identical chirped pulses, separated by a variable delay, is applied to an ultracold sample of 85Rb, and the rate of inelastic trap-loss collisions is measured. For small detunings of the chirped light below the atomic resonance, we observe that the rate of collisions induced by a given pulse can be increased by the presence of an earlier pulse. We attribute this to the enhancement of short-range collisional flux by the long-range excitation of atom pairs to an attractive molecular potential. For larger detunings and short delays, we find that a leading pulse can suppress the rate of collisions caused by a following pulse. This is due to a depletion of short-range atom pairs by the earlier pulse. Comparison of our data to classical Monte-Carlo simulations of the collisions yields reasonable agreement.
Cite
@article{arxiv.physics/0611003,
title = {Probing Ultracold Collisional Dynamics with Frequency-Chirped Pulses},
author = {M. J. Wright and J. A. Pechkis and J. L. Carini and P. L. Gould},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0611003},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Accepted by PRA