Optical Suppression of Photoassociative Ionization in a Magneto-Optical Trap

Abstract
We demonstrate suppression of two-color photoassociative ionization in a sodium vapor magneto-optical trap by imposing an auxiliary "suppressor" light beam on the ensemble of colliding trapped atoms. We interpret the experimental results in terms of a simple picture in which the suppressor light intercepts incoming reactant particle flux and reroutes it to long-range repulsive states, effectively preventing further approach of the collision pairs.