2008/02/04 by A. Yamaguchi, Atsushi Yamaguchi, S. Uetake +6 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Frequency and Time Standards #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Atomic physics #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Electron #Inelastic collision #Laser #Metastability #Nuclear physics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Ytterbium #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.233002
4 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2008/02/04 · openalex publication_date 2008/12/02 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We report measurement of inelastic loss in dense and cold metastable ytterbium (Yb[3P2]). Use of an optical far-off-resonance trap enables us to trap atoms in all magnetic sublevels, removing m-changing collisional trap loss from the system. Trapped samples of Yb[3P2] are produced at a density of 2\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi1013 cm^\ensuremath-3 and temperature of 2 \ensuremathμK. We observe rapid two-body trap loss of Yb[3P2] and measure the inelastic collision rate constant 1.0(3)\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10^\ensuremath-11 cm3 s^\ensuremath-1. The existence of the fine-structure changing collisions between atoms in the 3P2 state is strongly suggested.