47 research outputs found
Radiative collisional heating at the Doppler limit for laser-cooled magnesium atoms
We report Monte Carlo wave function simulation results on cold collisions
between magnesium atoms in a strong red-detuned laser field. This is the normal
situation e.g. in magneto-optical traps (MOT). The Doppler limit heating rate
due to radiative collisions is calculated for Mg-24 atoms in a magneto-optical
trap based on the singlet S_0 - singlet P_1 atomic laser cooling transition. We
find that radiative heating does not seem to affect the Doppler limit in this
case. We also describe a channelling mechanism due to the missing Q branch in
the excitation scheme, which could lead to a suppression of inelastic
collisions, and find that this mechanism is not present in our simulation
results due to the multistate character of the excitation process.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX 4; v2 contains minor revisions based on referee
comments (5 pages
Photoassociation spectroscopy of cold alkaline earth atoms near the intercombination line
The properties of photoassociation (PA) spectra near the intercombination
line (the weak transition between and states) of group
II atoms are theoretically investigated. As an example we have carried out a
calculation for Calcium atoms colliding at ultra low temperatures of 1 mK, 1
K, and 1 nK. Unlike in most current photoassociation spectroscopy the
Doppler effect can significantly affect the shape of the investigated lines.
Spectra are obtained using Ca--Ca and Ca--Ca short-range {\it ab initio}
potentials and long-range van der Waals and resonance dipole potentials. The
similar van der Waals coefficients of ground and
excited states cause the PA to differ greatly from
those of strong, allowed transitions with resonant dipole interactions. The
density of spectral lines is lower, the Condon points are at relatively short
range, and the reflection approximation for the Franck-Condon factors is not
applicable, and the spontaneous decay to bound ground-state molecules is
efficient. Finally, the possibility of efficient production of cold molecules
is discussed
Study of coupled states for the (4s^{2})^{1}S + (4s4p)^{3}P asymptote of Ca_{2}
The coupled states A^{1}\Sigma_{u}^{+} (^{1}D +}1}S), c^{3}\Pi_{u} (^{3}P +
^{1}S) and a^{3}\Sigma_{u}^{+} (^{3}P +}1}S) of the calcium dimer are
investigated in a laser induced fluorescence experiment combined with
high-resolution Fourier-transform spectroscopy. A global deperturbation
analysis of the observed levels, considering a model, which is complete within
the subspace of relevant neighboring states, is performed using the Fourier
Grid Hamiltonian method. We determine the potential energy curve of the
A^{1}\Sigma_{u}^{+} and c^{3}\Pi_{u} states and the strengths of the couplings
between them. The c^{3}\Pi_{u} and \as states are of particular importance for
the description of collisional processes between calcium atoms in the ground
state ^{1}S_{0} and excited state ^{3}P_{1} applied in studies for establishing
an optical frequency standard with Ca.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figure
Scattering length of the ground state Mg+Mg collision
We have constructed the X 1SIGMAg+ potential for the collision between two
ground state Mg atoms and analyzed the effect of uncertainties in the shape of
the potential on scattering properties at ultra-cold temperatures. This
potential reproduces the experimental term values to 0.2 inverse cm and has a
scattering length of +1.4(5) nm where the error is prodominantly due to the
uncertainty in the dissociation energy and the C6 dispersion coefficient. A
positive sign of the scattering length suggests that a Bose-Einstein condensate
of ground state Mg atoms is stable.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, Submitted Phys. Rev.
Theoretical study of collisional redistribution of light near the resonance of the Ba, Sr and Mg atoms perturbed by He and Ne
Absorption coefficient and polarization of collisionally redistributed
fluorescence light in a range of detunings around the atomic resonance
have been calculated for Ba, Sr and Mg perturbed by He and Ne. Results are
obtained from fully-quantum mechanical coupled-channels calculations
including the relevant ground and two excited and molecular
states for each diatomic. Close-coupling calculations are carried out based on the
theoretical potential curves obtained by means of a pseudopotential + valence
configuration-interaction (CI) technique. For accurate comparison with
experiment the calculated absorption coefficients and polarizations have been
thermally averaged over the collision energy. The theoretical absorption
profiles and linear polarization ratios agree, in general, quite well with
the available experimental data