Abstract
We report here measurements of two-body associative-ionization collisions between sodium atoms confined in a magneto-optic trap. These collisions represent a kind of ''open'' or dissipative collision for which the energy of the atom plus applied light field subsystem need not be conserved due to spontaneous-emission coupling to the vacuum modes of the radiation field. The experiment measures the photoassociative-ionization-rate constant as a function of the optical field intensity from about 40 to 260 mW cm-2. These results are in reasonable agreement with the predictions of an optical-Bloch-equation theory [Y. B. Band and P. S. Julienne, Phys. Rev. A 46, 330 (1992)], but differ strongly from the predictions of a local-equilibrium theory [A. Gallagher, Phys. Rev. A 44, 4249 (1991)].
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | R2523-R2526 |
Journal | Physical Review A |
Volume | 48 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Jan 1993 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics