Ultracold Rb-OH Collisions and Prospects for Sympathetic Cooling

Lara, M.; Bohn, J. L.; Potter, D. E.; Soldan, P.; Hutson, J. M

Abstract

We compute ab initio cross sections for cold collisions of Rb atoms with OH radicals. We predict collision rate constants of order 10-11 cm3/s at temperatures in the range 10–100 mK at which molecules have already been produced. However, we also find that in these collisions the molecules have a strong propensity for changing their internal state, which could make sympathetic cooling of OH in a Rb buffer gas problematic in magnetostatic or electrostatic traps.

Citation

Lara, M., Bohn, J. L., Potter, D. E., Soldan, P., & Hutson, J. M. (2006). Ultracold Rb-OH Collisions and Prospects for Sympathetic Cooling. Physical Review Letters, 97, https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.97.183201

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2006
• Deposit Date: May 10, 2007
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 20, 2010
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Print ISSN: 0031-9007
• Electronic ISSN: 1079-7114
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 97
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.97.183201
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1542562