Abstract
In a previous Letter by Oliveira et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 143002 (2003)], the time evolution of the population, resulting from energy-transfer collisions between Rb atoms in a magneto-optical trap, was explained based on an ultralong-range potential. However, some experimental oscillations observed in the signal could not be reproduced by that model. In this work we reanalyze such a experimental results considering an internuclear separation-dependent colliding atomic pair distribution. This analysis suggests that such a distribution in the ultralong-range Rydberg molecular potential is responsible for the observed oscillations.
- Received 29 November 2004
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.71.054701
©2005 American Physical Society