Thermalization of magnetically trapped metastable helium

A. Browaeys, A. Robert, O. Sirjean, J. Poupard, S. Nowak, D. Boiron, C. I. Westbrook, and A. Aspect
Phys. Rev. A 64, 034703 – Published 10 August 2001
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Abstract

We have observed thermalization by elastic collisions of magnetically trapped metastable helium atoms. Our method directly samples the reconstruction of a thermal energy distribution after the application of a RF knife. The relaxation time of our sample toward equilibrium gives an elastic collision rate constant of α5×109cm3/s at a temperature of 1 mK. This value is close to the unitarity limit.

  • Received 21 February 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.64.034703

©2001 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

A. Browaeys, A. Robert, O. Sirjean, J. Poupard, S. Nowak, D. Boiron, C. I. Westbrook, and A. Aspect

  • Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l’Institut d’Optique, UMR 8501 du CNRS, Boite Postale 147, F-91403 Orsay Cedex, France

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Vol. 64, Iss. 3 — September 2001

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