Radiative collisional heating at the Doppler limit for laser-cooled magnesium atoms



: Piilo J, Lundh E, Suominen KA

Publisher: AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOC

: 2004

: Physical Review A

: PHYSICAL REVIEW A

: PHYS REV A

: ARTN 013410

: 70

: 1

: 5

: 1050-2947

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.70.013410


We report Monte Carlo wave function simulation results on cold collisions between magnesium atoms in a strong red-detuned laser field. This is the normal situation, e.g., in magneto-optical traps (MOT). The Doppler limit heating rate due to radiative collisions is calculated for Mg-24 atoms in an MOT based on the S-1(0)-P-1(1) atomic laser cooling transition. We find that radiative heating does not seem to affect the Doppler limit in this case. We also describe a channeling mechanism due to the missing Q branch in the excitation scheme, which could lead to a suppression of inelastic collisions, and find that this mechanism is not present in our simulation results due to the multistate character of the excitation process.



Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 14:13