Ultracold collision properties of metastable alkaline-earth atoms
Preprint
- 19 October 2002
Abstract
Ultra-cold collisions of spin-polarized 24Mg,40Ca, and 88Sr in the metastable 3P2 excited state are investigated. We calculate the long-range interaction potentials and estimate the scattering length and the collisional loss rate as a function of magnetic field. The estimates are based on molecular potentials between 3P2 alkaline-earth atoms obtained from ab initio atomic and molecular structure calculations. The scattering lengths show resonance behavior due to the appearance of a molecular bound state in a purely long-range interaction potential and are positive for magnetic fields below 50 mT. A loss-rate model shows that losses should be smallest near zero magnetic field and for fields slightly larger than the resonance field, where the scattering length is also positive.Keywords
All Related Versions
- Version 1, 2002-10-19, ArXiv
- Published version: Physical Review Letters, 90 (6), 063002.
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