Prospects for measurement and control of the scattering length of metastable helium using photoassociation techniques

A numerical investigation of two-laser photoassociation (PA) spectroscopy on spin-polarized metastable helium (He*) atoms is presented within the context of experimental observation of the least-bound energy level in the scattering potential and subsequent determination of the s-wave scattering length. Starting out from the model developed by Bohn and Julienne [Phys. Rev. A \textbf{60}, (1999) 414], PA rate coefficients are obtained as a function of the parameters of the two lasers. The rate coefficients are used to simulate one- and two-laser PA spectra. The results demonstrate the feasibility of a spectroscopic determination of the binding energy of the least-bound level. The simulated spectra may be used as a guideline when designing such an experiment, whereas the model may also be employed for fitting experimentally obtained PA spectra. In addition, the prospects for substantial modification of the He* scattering length by means of optical Feshbach resonances are considered. Several experimental issues relating to the numerical investigation presented here are discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Dissipative dynamics of vortex arrays in anisotropic traps

We discuss the dissipative dynamics of vortex arrays in trapped Bose-condensed gases and analyze the lifetime of the vortices as a function of trap anisotropy and the temperature. In particular, we distinguish the two regimes of the dissipative dynamics, depending on the relative strength of the mutual friction between the vortices and the thermal component, and the friction of the thermal particles on the trap anisotropy. We study the effects of heating of the thermal cloud by the escaping vortices on the dynamics of the system.Comment: RevTeX, 8 pages, 3 eps figure