Optical collisions of cold, metastable helium atoms

We have studied the optical collisions of cold, metastable helium atoms in a magneto-optical trap. We have detected the rate of Penning and associative ionization of two metastable helium atoms at a temperature of 1 mK with and without nearly resonant light. We find that the associative ionization rate is increased with more than a factor 20 due to the presence of the light field. The absolute ionization rate near resonance of (1.9±0.8)×10^(-9) cm3/s for the optical collision differs two orders of magnitude with the rate reported by Bardou et al. (Europhys. Lett. 20, 681 (1992)). Our experimental findings are in good agreement with theory. We present a simple, semi-classical model, which accounts for all the observed features

Evaluation of the Gauss-Eyring model to predict thermal inactivation of micro-organisms at short holding times

Application of mild (non)-thermal processing technologies have received considerable interest as alternative to thermal pasteurisation, because of its shorter holding time and lower temperature aiming for an improved product quality. To understand and develop these alternative technologies, like pulsed electric fields, a proper comparison between the conventional thermal and alternative process is necessary. Up to recent, no suitable models were available to predict the inactivation of micro-organisms by a thermal process at a chosen short holding time, due to non-linearity. The recently developed Gauss-Eyring model with two variables temperature and time has the properties to be a suitable model to apply for short holding times, and was tested for this purpose. Therefore, this study aims to validate if the Gauss-Eyring model can be used to describe non-linear isothermal (a fixed temperature with varying holding time) and isotime (a fixed holding time with varying temperature) thermal inactivation data, and if it is a suitable model to predict the thermal inactivation as a function of temperature for short holding times. Inactivation data of Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Lactobacillus plantarum, Salmonella Senftenberg and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in orange juice were collected via isothermal and isotime inactivation kinetics. Survival of the tested micro-organisms was modelled with the Gauss-Eyring model, which contains three parameters σ Tr and Z. The transition of ‘no inactivation’ to ‘inactivation’ (i.e. the ‘shoulder’ in inactivation curves) can be characterised as the temperature-time (T,t) combination where T = Tr − Z · log10(t), with Tr as the reference temperature defined for 1 s treatment, Z as the temperature needed for a 10-fold increase of decrease of the holding time t, and σ as the temperature width of the distribution. The Gauss-Eyring model fitted well to the experimental data, and revealed different sensitivity for the tested micro-organisms. Based on the parameter estimations, survival curves for the desired short holding times were predicted.</p

Photo induced collisions with laser cooled He* atoms

This paper presents an experimental investigation of cold collisions between metastable Helium atoms in an optical trap at 1mK. Penning (PI) and associative (AI) ionization reactions are distinguished using a mass spectrometer and studied under influence of near resonant laser light. Sensitive behavior of the ion rate is observed when the laser is tuned close to resonance. Experimental ?ndings are well described, on an absolute scale, by a semi-classical model we have developed for optical collisions and by a modi?ed Julienne-Vigu´e model

Magneto-optical trap for metastable helium at 389 nm

We have constructed a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for metastable triplet helium atoms utilizing the 2 3S1 -> 3 3P2 line at 389 nm as the trapping and cooling transition. The far-red-detuned MOT (detuning Delta = -41 MHz) typically contains few times 10^7 atoms at a relatively high (~10^9 cm^-3) density, which is a consequence of the large momentum transfer per photon at 389 nm and a small two-body loss rate coefficient (2 * 10^-10 cm^3/s < beta < 1.0 * 10^-9 cm^3/s). The two-body loss rate is more than five times smaller than in a MOT on the commonly used 2 3S1 -> 2 3P2 line at 1083 nm. Furthermore, we measure a temperature of 0.46(1) mK, a factor 2.5 lower as compared to the 1083 nm case. Decreasing the detuning to Delta= -9 MHz results in a cloud temperature as low as 0.25(1) mK, at small number of trapped atoms. The 389 nm MOT exhibits small losses due to two-photon ionization, which have been investigated as well.Comment: 11 page

Integrated modular design of a pulsed electrical field treatment chamber

System for treating pumpable products by electrical pulses comprising at least one treatment chamber formed by at least two modules and comprising a flow channel through which product can be pumped, an end electrode (28) at the one end of the treatment chamber to which a low voltage has to be applied, another end electrode (20) at the other end of the chamber to which a high voltage has to be applied, a generator circuit for generating voltage pulses to be applied to said electrodes. The treatment chamber is provided with at least one intermediate electrode (22,24,26) which is located in between said end electrodes and to which a voltage in between the voltages of the two end electrodes has to be applied