Enhanced cooling of hydrogen by a buffer gas of alkali-metal atoms

Abstract

We consider the possibility of enhanced cooling of hydrogen atoms by a buffer gas of alkali-metal atoms Na, K, Rb, and Cs. Ultracold elastic collision cross sections for the Na-H and Rb-H purely spin-polarized pairs are found to be 640 and 860 times larger than that for the H-H pair, respectively. From an analysis of the techniques of production of ultracold sodium and rubidium samples, it seems feasible that the critical conditions for Bose-Einstein condensation of hydrogen could be achieved already at the stage of optical cooling of the sodium or rubidium buffer gas.