Light-assisted collisions between a few cold atoms in a microscopic dipole trap

A. Fuhrmanek, R. Bourgain, Y. R. P. Sortais, and A. Browaeys
Phys. Rev. A 85, 062708 – Published 25 June 2012

Abstract

We study light-assisted collisions in an ensemble containing a small number (3) of cold 87Rb atoms trapped in a microscopic dipole trap. Using our ability to operate with one atom exactly in the trap, we measure the one-body heating rate associated with a near-resonant laser excitation, and we use this measurement to extract the two-body loss rate associated with light-assisted collisions when a few atoms are present in the trap. Our measurements indicate that the two-body loss rate can reach surprisingly large values β>108 cm3 s1 and varies rapidly with the trap depth and the parameters of the excitation light.

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  • Received 22 May 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.85.062708

©2012 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

A. Fuhrmanek, R. Bourgain, Y. R. P. Sortais, and A. Browaeys

  • Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Institut d’Optique, CNRS, Université Paris Sud, 2 Avenue Augustin Fresnel, 91127 Palaiseau Cedex, France

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Issue

Vol. 85, Iss. 6 — June 2012

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