Abstract
We report here measurements of two-body photoassociative ionization collisions between sodium atoms within an ultranarrow velocity class selected from a well-collimated, thermal atomic beam. Doppler-shifted excitation of the Na(3s;F=1)→Na(5p) transition at 285 nm by a single-mode laser defines the narrow velocity class that subsequently populates the F=2 hyperfine level of the Na ground state by optical pumping. Probe laser beam excitation tuned near the Na(3s;F=2)→Na(3p;F=3) transition produced photoassociative ionization with an average collision energy corresponding to a temperature of 5.3 mK (=3/2kT). We determine the rate constant for the process as a function of probe beam intensity and polarization.
- Received 10 March 1994
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.51.R18
©1995 American Physical Society