Collisional Properties of Cold Spin-Polarized Nitrogen Gas: Theory, Experiment, and Prospects as a Sympathetic Coolant for Trapped Atoms and Molecules
DSpace/Manakin Repository
Collisional Properties of Cold Spin-Polarized Nitrogen Gas: Theory, Experiment, and Prospects as a Sympathetic Coolant for Trapped Atoms and Molecules
| Title: | Collisional Properties of Cold Spin-Polarized Nitrogen Gas: Theory, Experiment, and Prospects as a Sympathetic Coolant for Trapped Atoms and Molecules |
| Author: |
Tscherbul, Timur V.; Dalgarno, Alexander; Klos, Jacek; Zygelman, Bernard; Pavlovic, Zoran; Hummon, Matthew T.; Lu, Hsin-I; Doyle, John M.; Tsikata, Edem
Note: Order does not necessarily reflect citation order of authors. |
| Citation: | Tscherbul, Timur V., Jacek Klos, Alexander Dalgarno, Bernard Zygelman, Zoran Pavlovic, Matthew T. Hummon, Hsin-I Lu, Edem Tsikata, and John M. Doyle. 2010. Collisional properties of cold spin-polarized nitrogen gas: Theory, experiment, and prospects as a sympathetic coolant for trapped atoms and molecules. Physical Review A 82(4): 042718. |
| Full Text & Related Files: |
Dalgarno_Collisional.pdf (1.014Mb; PDF) 
|
| Abstract: | We report a combined experimental and theoretical study of collision-induced dipolar relaxation in a cold spin-polarized gas of atomic nitrogen (N). We use buffer gas cooling to create trapped samples of \(^{14}\)N and \(^{15}\)N atoms with densities (5\(\pm\)2) × \(10^{12}\) \(cm^{-3}\) and measure their magnetic relaxation rates at milli-Kelvin temperatures. These measurements, together with rigorous quantum scattering calculations based on accurate \(ab\) \(initio\) interaction potentials for the \(^{7}\Sigma^{+}_{u}\) electronic state of \(N_{2}\) demonstrate that dipolar relaxation in N+N collisions occurs at a slow rate of ~\(10^{-13}\) \(cm^{3}\)/s over a wide range of temperatures (1 mK to 1 K) and magnetic fields (10 mT to 2 T). The calculated dipolar relaxation rates are insensitive to small variations of the interaction potential and to the magnitude of the spin-exchange interaction, enabling the accurate calibration of the measured N atom density. We find consistency between the calculated and experimentally determined rates. Our results suggest that N atoms are promising candidates for future experiments on sympathetic cooling of molecules. |
| Published Version: | doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.82.042718 |
| Other Sources: | http://arxiv.org/abs/1007.0469 |
| Terms of Use: | This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#LAA |
| Citable link to this page: | http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:5139187 |
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
-
FAS Scholarly Articles [5138]
Peer reviewed scholarly articles from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University
Contact administrator regarding this item (to report mistakes or request changes)
