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arXiv · 1107.5781

Study of light-assisted collisions between a few cold atoms in a microscopic dipole trap

A. Fuhrmanek·R. Bourgain·Y. R. P. Sortais·A. Browaeys
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Abstract

We study light-assisted collisions in an ensemble containing a small number (~3) of cold Rb87 atoms trapped in a microscopic dipole trap. Using our ability to operate with one atom exactly in the trap, we measure the one-body heating rate associated to a near-resonant laser excitation, and we use this measurement to extract the two-body loss rate associated to light-assisted collisions when a few atoms are present in the trap. Our measurements indicate that the two-body loss rate can reach surprisingly large values beta>10^{-8} cm^{3}.s^{-1} and varies rapidly with the trap depth and the parameters of the excitation light.

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A. Fuhrmanek, R. Bourgain, Y. R. P. Sortais, A. Browaeys. 2012-05-22. Study of light-assisted collisions between a few cold atoms in a microscopic dipole trap. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.85.062708

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